Asian Journal of Business Management 5(1): 19-51, 2013

ISSN: 2041-8744; E-ISSN: 2041-8752

Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2013
Submitted: April 17, 2012
Accepted: July 09, 2012

Published: 15 January, 2013

Lottery Scam in a Third-World Nation: The Economics of a Financial

Crime and its Breadth
1

Paul Andrew Bourne, 2Chad Chambers, 3Damion K. Blake, 4Charlene Sharpe-Pryce and 5Ikhalfani Solan
1
Socio-Medical Research Institute (Formerly, Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, the
University of the West Indies, Mona)
2
Western Union, Grace Kennedy, Jamaica
3
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 409 Major Williams Hall
4
Chair, Department of History, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica
5
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, South Carolina State University

Abstract: In 2007, a stratified random sample of 1,338 Jamaicans revealed that 11 out of every 27 indicated that
crime and violence was the leading problem of the nation. The Lottery Scam, a growing financial crime, is widely
practiced in many developing nations, inclusive of Jamaica, where the matter has got the attention of public security
management. The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF, Year) formed a task force in 2012 to critically investigate this
phenomenon which has been plaguing private businesses for more than a decade. This study will, examine the
Lottery Scam Business from an empirical perspective and provide invaluable insights into its operations, politics and
economics. A 2-dimensional epistemological framework is used in this study, objectivism and constructionist. The
theoretical framework employed is interpreted by positivism and interpretive hence, the use of survey research,
documentary analysis, focus group and elite interviews with participants. The participants were purposively drawn
because there is no population register of lottery matters. It follows, therefore, that the study used a snow balling
approach to allot participants, those incarcerated, awaiting time for trial, police officers, private investigators and
participants introducing the researchers to others involved in different aspect of scamming activities. The
development and continuation of the lottery scam is primarily because of the general decay in the economy.
Peoples involvement in lottery scamming and by extension related criminal activities such as murders is
substantially an economics issue. The lottery scam and its relationship with increased murder is again another subset
of the general worsening in the state of the Jamaican economy and why this illegal activity continues to pull people
to such actions. Hence, murders associated with the lottery scam cannot be simply solved by way of police or
judiciary intervention as their cause is an economic one and can only be effectively addressed as such.
Keywords: Crime, Jamaica, lottery scam, money embezzlement, murder, security management
continues and personal freedom has to be sacrificed in
order to address the problem, then the need will arise
for analysis of the political culture (Munroe, 2002).
Munroes interpretation of the crime phenomenon
in Jamaica does not only highlight the problem
forwarded by Bourne and other scholars, but shows
how politics is interwoven into the crime and violence
narrative (Munroe, 2002). It also provides a
justification for security management in the violent
crime milieu, how political culture as well as socioeconomic characteristics fosters various types of crime
(Bourne and Solan, 2012) and the interrelation between
money misdemeanours and other violent crimes. The
objective of this study is to examine the Lottery Scam
Operations in Jamaica from an empirical perspective
and provide invaluable insights into its operations,
politics and economics as well as it marriage to
criminal
activities.
The contemporary crime

INTRODUCTION
Jamaica is among the top 10 most murderous
nations in the world (Bourne et al., 2012) Rising crime
is a major security challenge throughout the Caribbean,
including Jamaica, which had the highest murder rate in
the world in 2005 with a rate of 60 persons per 100,000
inhabitants (Sullivan, 2006). The number of murders
reported in Jamaica annually is more than the number
of deaths by HIV and is relatively close to those
mortalities by diabetes mellitus (Bourne, 2012)
The prevalence of violent crimes in Jamaica goes
back to pre-emancipation, when the revolt of the slaves
would lead to their capture and murder (Bourne and
Solan, 2012) Ostensibly, Jamaica has a culture of
violence which manifests itself in diverse ways but
more so in the consistently high rates of murder since
the 1960s (Bourne et al., 2012).If crime and violence

Corresponding Author: Paul Andrew Bourne, Socio-Medical Research Institute (Formerly, Department of Community Health
and Psychiatry, the University of the West Indies, Mona), Tel.: 803-536-8678

19

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

Table 1: Number of Murders and violent crime, 1970-2010
Violent
Violent
Year
Murder
crime
Year
Murder
crime
1970
152
1990
542
20698
1971
145
1991
561
18522
1972
170
1992
629
20173
1973
227
1993
653
21275
1974
195
1994
690
22403
1975
266
1995
780
23083
1976
367
1996
925
24617
1977
409
15893
1997
1037
22053
1978
381
16640
1998
953
19781
1979
351
1999
849
17056
1980
889
24201
2000
887
16469
1981
490
2001
1191
14929
1982
405
19867
2002
1045
14047
1983
424
2003
975
13611
1984
484
21186
2004
1471
15306
1985
2005
1674
14920
1986
449
19228
2006
1340
13136
1987
442
2007
1574
14219
1988
414
19456
2008
1601
11432
1989
439
19886
2009
1680
11939
2010
1428
11062
Planning Institute of Jamaica, various years

The Lottery Scam is widely practiced in many

developing nations, inclusive of Jamaica, but the matter
has recently got the attention of public security
management with the Jamaica Constabulary Force
(JCF, Year) forming a task force (in 2012) to critically
investigate this phenomenon which has plagued private
businesses for more than a decade. The Lottery Scam
Business has been an acute security management
challenge of private companies fought from a
fragmented private perspective and to a lesser degree
from an empirical standpoint in the English-Speaking
Caribbean (Jamaica Gleaner, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c).
Powell et al. (2007) listed (24) pressing problems of
Jamaicans and Lottery Scam was not on the radar.
Although the connection between crime and political
culture has been documented by Boxill et al. (2007),
Lottery Scam as a criminal activity has never found its
way into the narrative.
One Caribbean criminologist
opined that In Jamaica, as noted earlier, crime cannot
be fully understood without reference to politics
(Harriott, 2003). This highlights the relationship
between politics and criminality, which was equally
examined by Robotham (2003). Harriott postulated that
the seeds of the crime-politics phenomenon in Jamaica
were planted and nurtured over decades of competitive
party politics (Harriott, 2003), which was extensively
reviewed by Sives (2003). In evaluating the historical
roots of violence in Jamaica from Historic Records,
Sives noted that crimes were committed by the
supporters of the 2 main political parties the Jamaica
Labour Party (JLP) and Peoples National Party (PNP)
in the 1940s and that political tension dates back to preindependence. Caribbean criminologists, for more than
a decade have used econometric analyses to identify
factors associated with crimes to bolster understanding
and inform policy measures to combat the problem.
Poverty has been identified and widely studied as a
causal factor of crime (Robotham, 2003; Ellis, 1991;
Tremblay, 1995) and those whom have not used the
term causality have employed association (Harriott,
2004; Ellis, 1992; Levy, 1996) as the discourse is
centred on crime-poverty theory. Despite the plethora
of studies conducted on crime-poverty phenomenon as
well as measures to alleviate and lower poverty, the
reality is violent crimes, especially murders; continued
to escalate during periods of reduced poverty. Poverty
is therefore only 1 factor linked to crime, other factors
have been classified as social, cultural, economic and
political (Robotham, 2003; Tremblay, 1995). Many of
these factors have been used to guide policy
formulation and yet, the crime phenomenon continues
unabated in the nation. Harriott aptly summarized the
failure of conventional theorizing, when he opined that
Traditional law enforcement methods have similarly

phenomenon in Jamaica has escalated to become the

nations leading problem. According to Bourne (2012)
It is surprising that murder in Jamaica for 2000 was
greater than that for New York by seven times
suggesting the extent of the problem and which can be
classified as a pandemic in Jamaica. In 2007, a
stratified random sample of 1,338 Jamaica revealed that
11 out of every 27 respondents indicated that crime and
violence was the leading problem (Powell et al., 2007)
and another research found that 2 out of every 10
Jamaicans feared criminal victimization (Harriott,
2004). Statistics also revealed that in 1970, the total
number of murders in Jamaica was 152 and by the end
of 2010, it had exponentially increased by 839.5%
(Table 1). On the other hand, major crimes have been
fluctuating between 1969 and 2011 and generally a
reducing trend has emerged from 1994. According to
the World Bank (2003), the crime problem in Jamaica
(murder rate) was about the same as that in New York
in 1970 and by 2000, murders in Jamaica had exceeded
that in New York by seven times. Scholars have
forwarded that the crime problem has its nexus in the
1960s (Bourne and Solan, 2012), which speaks to the
longstanding history of violence and the role of tribal
politics in its continuity. Munroes perspective,
therefore, highlights not the crime problem, but a
political one. As it can be extrapolated from Munroes
theorizing the understanding of the crime problem
based on examining the politics, political values and
subcultures of the Jamaican society. It is within this
context that we begin an examination of Lottery Scams
in Jamaica.
20

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

proved to be ineffective (Harriott, 2004). By
extension, one can conclude that the long-established
factors that have been identified as causes of crime or
associated with crime are insufficient by themselves.
Using econometric analysis, Nobel prize winner Becker
(1968) established that involvement in crime activities
can be explained by income received from criminal
activities, legal employment, probability of being
caught, probability of being convicted, duration of
sentencing if caught, age and income from non-criminal
engagements. It can be deduced from Beckers work
that crime is predominantly an economic phenomenon,
which was supported by Francis et al. (2001), using
data for Jamaica. Although Francis et al. (2001) did not
include politics among the independent variables; they
found that the economic factors contributed
significantly to involvement in criminality, which does
not eliminate the political as well as socio-demographic
factors that correlate. If economics account for the
crime-problem in Jamaica, then what explains the
increase in the incidence of murders from 17.5% in
2007 compared to 2006 during which poverty declined
by 30.8% and mortality rise by 8.2% (PIOJ, 1971-2011;
PIOJ and STATIN, 1989-2010)?. Although the Lottery
Scam as an economic activity it is rarely discussed in
the arena of crimes in the English-speaking Caribbean,
the Lottery Scam Business must be brought into the
discourse of crime from a political perspective as there
is a clear association between public discussion of
certain themes and politics - security management,
poverty and poverty and crimes. Manunta (1998)
postulated that socio-economic and political factors
should not be overly emphasized in security as this is
more a function of asset, protector, threat and specific
situation. Within the theoretical framework of
Manuntas theory on security, there are underlining
issues that can be used to understand and explain the
link between crime and policy and reduction on
application of this approach. Among the factors
identified by Manunta for security is the situation,
Manunta argued that one must assess the situation,
suggesting that security uses empiricism to determine
actions. He opined that Situational factors are seen in
different ways at academic and professional
levelsAcademic research is mostly directed to
analyzing the influence of situational factors on
motivation. Situation appears to be related to
opportunity and influence the offenders choice
considered as rational (Manunta, 1998). The
aforementioned perspective offers some explanation of
the Lottery Scam mechanism, the social milieu and its
human justifications. In evaluating the situation, an
assessment of the environment is critical to the security
conditions. The security environment constitutes the

asset, its setting and security apparatuses (including the

Protectors and not the threat). Another aspect to the
milieu is the local setting that entails the threat as well
as the macro-climate (or outside milieu). Manunta
forwarded that the macro-climate includes political,
ethical, socio-economic, legislative and, normative and
so on. Such perspectives offer explanation for the
examination, policy formulation and publication of
documents by the police on anti-corruption strategies
(JCF, undated) as the macro-climate demands
corruption prevention and reduction (Powell et al.,
2007; Waller et al., 2007; Pantry, 2010; Transparency
International, 2000-2009). Powell and his colleagues
found that corruption was the 4th most pressing
problem facing Jamaica at this time (Powell et al.,
2007), which provides the coverage for the dictates of
politics anti corruption stance, documentation, strategy
and programmes.
Contextualizing crime in Jamaica: Theoretical
Debates: The present crime situation in Jamaica
(including the Lottery Scam) accounts for the
heightened fear of crime and victimization as well as
the widespread fear for garrison and outcomes of
garrison zed politics. The analysis of crime-and-politics
from a security perspective carries with it not only the
interpretations of concepts and process of security, but
a non-passive approach to reducing the threat and threat
modification of the situation which are outside of the
economics of crime and the social milieu of the
perpetrator to the politics. There is enough evidence
that exists to show that the socio-economic situation as
well as the demographic factors have not provide an
explanation, which when applied have reduced the
crime-problem in Jamaica. On the other hand, based on
empirical works of the economics of crime (Bourne,
2011; Francis et al., 2001; Becker, 1968) and
governance of the society, it can be deduced that the
macro-climate as well as the micro-climate was able
to provide a platform for the reduction of violence in
Western Kingston, especially Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli
Garden is a garrison area in Western Kingston, Jamaica,
that solely supports the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Using threat assessment, assessment of the situation,
even with the lingering reality of politics, crimes
particularly murders have been exponentially reduced
in Western Kingston, although economics or any other
social factors have not been addressed.
The dismantling of the marriage between politics
and crime in Western Kingston, especially Tivoli
Gardens, was as a result of a threat analysis which
found that the marriage had to be broken. Clearly the
threat which once existed in Western Kingston has been
lowered and this has changed the perception of
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Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

Jamaicans outside of Kingston on the physical harm,
crime and violence and protection. People are not
expressing confidence in the police being able to man
the streets.
For years the security process and decision of the
Jamaica Police Force have not been a rational one. The
very police were afraid to venture into Tivoli Gardens
because of the synergy and relationship between
politics and crime. On the path of the police, there were
fear, anxiety, terror and apprehension on venturing into
a discourse much more a visit to the area in Jamaica.
There was self-interest that prevented the free
movement of police and the army from entering that
physical site and fear more that terror accounts for the
non-responsiveness of people from breaking the twin
phenomenon, crime-and-politics, Many
Jamaicans
wanted a separation between crime and politics,
especially in Tivoli Gardens, but that reality seemed
far-fetched. Robot ham argued that there was an
association among criminality, politics and area of
residence (Robotham, 2003) and that Extensive
involvement in protection and extortion rackets in
business district adjacent to inner-city areas represents
another major activity for criminal gangs. Indeed, many
informants stated that the basis of the much-lauded
peace was the desire on the part of 2 gang leaders with
opposing political affiliations to have an organized
sharing of the protection rackets in downtown Kingston
[Tivoli Gardens Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and
Matthews Lane Peoples National Party, PNP]. The
marriage between crime and politics in Jamaica goes
back to the 1940s (Sives, 2003), extends beyond
Western Kingston, particularly Tivoli Gardens (Levy,
1996) and that poverty should not be ascribed as the
rationale for the badness-honour society that had
emerged over time (Gray, 2003). Based on the dictates
of the macro-economic climate in Jamaica, threat
continuance, terrorism alert and strong correlation
between crimes, particularly murders and self-interest
there was no peace of mind for police, the government
and ultimate the security of the society. Security was
under threat; fear had gripped the psyche of the people
(Harriott, 2004), the reality of Jamaica being among the
ten most murderous places on earth denoted that
economic pay-off of allowing Tivoli Gardens to
continue unabated meant that whole nation would be
under threat, fear, feeling of victimization and justifies
why the government had to fight a separation between
crime-and-politics. There would be not peace of mind
with the marriage between politics and crimes in
garrison communities in Jamaica as the society was
paying the price in the form of lives (murders),
economics (lowered GDP, productivity, production,
tourism arrivals) and security which is a feature of all

modern society which for the Jamaican society had

become elusive., Fear had replaced the overarching
concept of safety and the human right. Security is a
human right and political ideal and increasingly
Jamaicans had been felt out of this basic human right
and so a divorce of crime and politics holds the keys to
unlocking the garrisonization concept and to solving a
huge portion of the societys crime problem.
One of the aspect to which the marriage of crime
and politics can be lowered, if not eradicated in
Jamaica, is by theory of vulnerability. Politicians are
among the populace who are at risk of harm or danger,
with the twinning of politics and crime. Historically,
Roy McGhan was the only politician (Member of
Parliament) who was killed along with his police agent
in 1979. Manunta commented that The vulnerability of
the asset relates to the possibility of the damage; that of
Protector and Situation is an opening to the opportunity
of provoking a damage (Manunta, 1998), suggesting
that if politician recognize the likelihood of being
harmed, especially killed, self-interest is likely to see
them lowering if not eradicating the marriage between
crime and politics as this favours their existence. The
vulnerability and threat level will not only see
politicians requesting special agents (VIP agents), but
considering dismantling the linkages between 2
aforementioned phenomenon as this would lower risk,
damage and increase opportunities for favourable
occasions (Anderson, 2011). If the politician considers
that s/he has something to lose, particularly his/her life,
then s/he is more likely to institute measures to
dismantle the marriage between politics and crimes thus
self-interest in this case would mean that s/he will
protect himself/herself from personal harm. The
winning of political seats in an election is an
opportunity not only to serve the people of a specified
geo-political area but the reduction of this opportunity
through any vulnerability is likely to encourage a
willingness to divorce crime and politics as if the
individuals politician safety is compromised, then this
would stimulate a justification of its termination. The
high probability of losing ones life is a positive
reinforcement for politicians to see the need to
disconnect crime from politics. Self-preservation is
critical in human existence and if politicians assume
that they are highly likely to be vulnerable, be killed,
experience missed opportunities and then the
motivation to protect life will translate into separation
between the 2 phenomena because of self-interest. The
general elections of 1980 was a conflict of sort over
political ideology between socialism and capitalism and
this heightened the violence and murders as the 2
political parties [the Peoples National Party (PNP) and
the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)] facilitated a divide of
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Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

the people (Sives, 2003). The violent crimes and the
murder statistics embodied the tension, political divide,
ideology conflict and socialistic and capitalistic
ideology found for the leadership of the nation (Table
1). Political identity had divided the nation, peoples
identity was associated with a political party which
after a while influenced and informed attitude and
behaviour. Many of the murders were based on the
premise of political values and attitude as one side of
the debate portrayed the other as the enemy and a traitor
and the national identity was reduced to tribal political
values. The political rivalry was intense, people of
different political values had fundamental problems
with his neighbour on political ideology and threat alert
grew for heads of the 2 political parties at the time (2
former Prime ministers - Michael Manley and Edward
Seaga). Munroe (2002) extensively explained how
political culture drives political behaviour, which would
account for the action (or inactions) of people during
the 1970s leading up to the 1980 general elections in
Jamaica. Despite the number of murders in the 1980
election only one Member of Parliament was ever killed
in the history of Jamaica (Roy McGhan), which means
that although the threat level for the populace was high,
it was lower for the politicians, this could explain low
tendency to effectively address the crime, particularly
the murder problem. Based on Manuntas theory,
vulnerability among politicians was low which speaks
for a low risk which could justify a low motivation for
eradication of the crime and politics paradigm because
the self-preservation was intact neither the situation
demands it nor were policy makers pressed to divorce
both phenomena. A rationale for the exponential
increase in violent crimes, especially murders in the
1980 can be accounted for by armed criminal gangs that
began operating at the start of the 1970s and this aided
the political parties (Gray, 2003; Sives, 2003). The
politicians, therefore, had a vested interest in allowing
the marriage of crime and politics as this was a personal
benefit and not a cause for concern. Historically, at the
end of the decade of the 1980s, murders had increased
by 85.3% compared to the decade of the 1970s, but this
had contributed to the election of a political party that
used the gangs to their benefit (Sives, 2003; Figueroa
and Sives, 2003). The decade of the 1990s saw a 54.6%
increase in murder over the 1980s and at the end of
decade of 2000, murders grew by 76.4% compared to
the previous decade (Table 1). And the 1970s and
1980s paled in significance to the number of murders in
2000., Gray postulated that ...the period of the
1970s,(was) a time of great upheaval, political violence
and social polarization in Jamaica (Gray, 2003), the
demands for close protection by the police grew as
more people expressed feeling of fear of physical harm.

The micro-environment was changing and people

began demanding a solution of the crime problem as
well as the eradication of synergy between politics and
crime.
Statistics revealed that the 1980s marked a
transition in wanton murders, although its genesis
began in the 1970s. One Caribbean scholar aptly
summarized the politics of the 1970s and 1980s, which
presents the politics of gansterism in Jamaica. Obika
Gray opined that the 1970s and 1980s 1) ... [saw the]
unforgiving ghetto during the party civil wars in the
1970s (Gray, 2003) This study focuses on the period
of the 1970s, a time of great upheaval, political
violence and social polarization in Jamaica (Gray,
2003) Activists during the 1970s reported that Barth
[criminal] to the was familiar with former CIA agent
Philip Agees critique of U.S. imperialism... (Gray,
2003) and 4) Indeed, by the late 1970s urban gangster
for both the political and criminal underworlds were
becoming a growing source of patronage with which
politicians had to compete (Gray, 2003). Those issues
highlighted the emergence of intense criminality, the
informal industry which existence because of the failure
of the formal economy to adequately provide for the
needs of the people and the populace was now tired of
the vulnerability, wanton killing of people, including
the wealth and self-interest lead to a new
consciousness. Harriott postulated that Between 1977
and 2000, the rate of violent crime has increased from
254.6 incidents per 100,000 citizens to 633.4/100,000
and the murder rate from 19.2/100,000 to 39/100,000
(Harriott, 2003), suggesting that in self-interest this
dictated that the risk of criminal victimization was high
for all which spurred the willingness of politicians to
divorce crime and politics as they worry about the
likelihood of being physically harmed. The types and
degree of criminal activities in Jamaica have of
necessity, occasioned a shift in emphasis and resources
to major incidents such as murder, shootings, guns for
drugs trade and gang related activities as the threat level
among the politicians is growing and macro-climate is
demanding a solution to the problem. The volume of
calls from the public to the police and other bodies has
helped to set the organizational priorities. People sought
to protect their assets and life, perceived fear factors
demand a separation of crime and politics as this is
believed to account for criminality. While the mere
volume of calls may be an important prescription for
action, the types of calls are critical for action. Within
the ambits of the mandates of the police force as well as
the political administration, decisions are made
primarily based on perception, interpretation and the
expectations from outside bodies such as Amnesty
International and United Nations. Individuals, therefore,
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Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

will weigh the cost and benefit of participating in
legitimate or illegitimate activities, with punishment
serving as the primary cost to deter the extent of their
participation in each domain can venture.
Guns, violent crimes and the volume of unsolved
serious crimes were now well known, these had reached
the international arena, fear and victimization had
become rampant and the police were increasingly
pressured to address these issues. The wired media had
headlines which read Jamaicas murder rate continues
to soar in 2008 and Jamaica record the highest murder
rate in 2009 and Jamaica was now among the 10 top
countries with the most murders in the world. Crime,
violence and drugs in the Caribbean had become so
much of an issue internationally that this caught the
attention of the United Nations and the World Bank.
United Nations and World Bank (2007) conduct a study
on Crime, violence and development: Trends, costs
and policy options in the Caribbean which revealend.
The Governments of the Caribbean countries recognize
the seriousness of the problem and are exploring
innovative policy responses at both the national and
regional levels. Civil society organizations are doing
their part as well by designing and implementing
violence prevention programs targeting youth violence,
violence against women and other important forms of
violence (United Nations and World Bank, 2007). The
seriousness of the crime problem in the Caribbean,
particularly Jamaica, means that peoples fear of crime
and victimization had reached an alarming level that
they were now willing to circumvent the time that the
police would take to solve the cases and the justice
system would pronounce guilt on the criminals. This
was reported by Harriott (2003), when he said that ,
in response to a series of incidents of violent crime,
citizens mobilized themselves as vigilante groups and
rioted and attacked a police station in an effort to
lynch three men whom they erroneously thought
were criminals and who had sought refuge in the police
station (Harriott, 2003). Such a response from the
citizenry is the value they now place on asset of life,
property and their psychological wellbeing and that
these are worthy of protection. Based on Manuntas
postulations that The term Asset is anything that can
be threatened and damaged and is consequently
defended by the Protector (Manunta, 1998), which
account for their willingness to see an end of the
marriage between politics and crime as this twinphenomenon threatens existence and property.
There is extensive empirical evidence that the
Caribbean is experiencing a period of terrorism that
emerged from narcotic transhipment, gun smuggling
and that this does not serve the interest of politicians
(Griffith, 2004a, 2004b). As the gang members (or

underground traders) are not serving the interest of

politicians as in the 1940s, 1970s and beyond, it follows
that macroeconomic climate as well as the microclimate causing the gradual eradication of the crime and
politics paradigm. Within the context of Robot hams
perspective that Probably the most intractable factor
contributing to violent crime in Jamaica is the
interconnecting network of criminal gangs, drug
running, politics and the police (Robotham, 2003),
Munroes comment (Munroe, 2002) offers an
understanding of the pressing demand of publics
(international and local) for the breaking of the back
of the crime and politics marriage which must extend to
all types of crimes.
Poverty which in capitates and individual choices
(Sen, 1979, 1981; Levy, 1996; Robotham, 2003;
Bourne, 2009, 2011; Senate Community Affairs
Reference Committee, 2004) provides an explanation
for the economics in the rise of Lottery Scam based on
the works on Becker (1968) and Francis et al. (2001).
The Lottery Scam Business is a way out of poverty and
despite the good or bad to this reality, it must be
considered as escape from poverty like some of the
other ways identified by the Inter-American
Development Bank (1998). It is not only a means to an
end, the Scam is a gateway to other crime activities and
security management becomes a problematic issue
therein and thereafter. Despite the reduction in violent
crimes in Jamaica (Table 1), the Lottery Scam has
become widespread in Jamaica, includes other crimes
and is a transnational business (Jamaica Gleaner,
2011c; Jamaica Observer, 2012; Jamaica Star, 2011).
The coverage of the lottery scam includes even police
officers and Anderson (2011) noted that politics corrupt
many members in the police office because of benefits
for favour owing to the limited resources available to
people in the society. On examination of documentary
evidence and reports in the media (Jamaica Observer,
2012; Jamaica Gleaner, 2011a, 2011b), Lottery
scamming has resulted in economic downturn of
businesses as they cease operations because they are
unable to absorb sustained losses (Jamaica Gleaner,
2011a) and continuous threats to staffers. The lottery
scam has even infiltrated the psyche of some members
of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF, Year) that
they have been charged for their involvement (Jamaica
Observer,
2012).
Despite
the
seemingly
interconnectivity between lottery scams and other
criminal activities including murder as well as how it
has destroyed the life of countless people world, the
matter is still under studied in the English-Speaking
Caribbean, particularly Jamaica.
24

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

fundamentally anchored with Beckers seminal work on

the economics of crime. Outside of this primary
theoretical framework, other theories were drawn upon
to provide a depth of information that can be used to
give a better interpretation of the social reality of the
phenomenon. The lottery scam is a social phenomenon
which cannot be studied exclusively of the people,
meaning system, culture and economics. Hence, the
employment of other theorists has this will broaden the
scope of the interpretation; provide a better
understanding of the economics, involvement and
rationales for the humans actions. This research was
conducted in Jamaica across many parishes to include
Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Manchester,
St. Elizabeth, Trelawney, St. James and Hanover. Data
were gathered from scammers, police officers,
compliance managers in a wired transfer company in
Jamaica, security personnel and the media. The
research was conducted between November 2011 and
March 2012.

A theoretical framework is a self-conscious set of

(a) fundamental principles or axioms (ethical, political,
philosophical) and (b) a set of rules for combining and
applying them (e.g., induction, deduction, contradiction
and extrapolation). A theoretical framework defines the
objects of a discourse, the permissible ways of thinking
about those objects and so determines the kinds of
knowledge about the objects that can be produced
legitimately within the framework Cubitt, S, personal
communication, October 6, 2005 in Waller (2006). The
science of research is therefore not only expressed in
natural (or pure) sciences like chemistry, physics,
medicine, mathematics and metaphysics; but it is in the
theoretical framework and the methodology that are
applied to the investigation. For centuries Positivism
which is a theoretical framework has been used to guide
methodologies that were primarily quantitative (Kuhn,
1996; Balashov and Rosenberg, 2002) and accounts for
discoveries like Newtons Law F = ma (Force is
equal to product of mass and acceleration). Scientific
attitude was guided by this theoretical framework as
science was embodied in proof, verification, validation
and objectification. This explains the preponderance of
inquiries that utilize the positivism and post-positivism
theoretical framework and methodologies that were
solely objective.

Econometric model: The tool of regression is an

important part of econometrics, which is widely used
by those by supporters of the positivistic (or post)
paradigm. Positivism which is a theoretical framework
has been used to guide methodologies that were
primarily quantitative (Waldmann, 1991; Bourne,
2009a, 2009b; Van Agt et al., 2000) and accounts for
discoveries like Newtons Law F = ma (Force is
equal to product of mass and acceleration). Scientific
attitude was guided by this theoretical framework as
science was embodied in proof, verification, validation
and objectification. This explains the preponderance of
inquiries that utilize the positivism and post-positivism
theoretical framework and methodologies that were
solely objective. The precision and objectivity which
are embedded in positivism was used by Gary Becker
in his seminal work on factors of crime in the 1960s
(Becker, 1968).
Beckers shaping work concludes a utility
maximization framework that establishes factors which
influence an individuals choice in crime. Beckers
utility maximization crime framework expresses crime
as a function of many variables. These are displayed in
Eq. (1), below:

Crotty (2005) remarked that: we describe the

philosophical stance that lies behind our chosen
methodology. We attempt to explain how it provides a
context for the process and grounds its logic and
criteria... (and) this is precisely what we do when we
elaborate our theoretical perspective (Crotty, 2005).
Such an elaboration is a statement of the assumptions
brought to the research task and reflected in the
methodology as we understand and employ it (Crotty,
2005). With the difficulty of finding a single theoretical
framework (perspective, theory or model) that explains
the underpinnings of this research, the researcher used a
mixed model approach. The fundamental theory that
provides a philosophical stance for this study is Gary
Beckers work on Crime and Punishment: An
economic approach (Becker, 1968). Within the context
of the work, limitations in knowledge of a population
register on lottery scammers and premise of science
which is both objective (objectivism) and subjective
(constructivism and/or subjectivism), a hybrid approach
was used from epistemology, theoretical framework,
methodology and method. These provided a perspective
that allows for an interpretation that is holistic and in
keeping with science of human inquiry. Although the
epistemology is a mixed approach, the current study is

y = f(x 1 , x 2, , x 3 , x 4 , x 5 , x 6 , x 7 )

(1)

where,
y = Hours spent in criminal activities
x 1 = Wage for an hour spent in criminal activity
x 2 = Hourly wage in legal employment
x 3 = Income other than from crime or employment
25

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

x 4 = Probability of getting caught
x 5 = Probability of being convicted if caught
x 6 = Expected sentence if convicted
x 7 = Age

is a spurious one and that poverty should not be

ascribed as casually influence crime or generally
associated within macro variables. Headley (1994) had
opined by inequality accounts for the violence and
Stone (1987) argued that it was deprivation. Although
poverty is a product of inequality and deprivation,
inequality and deprivation do not necessarily mean
poverty as those in the middle class are still embodies
socio-economic inequality between themselves and
those of the affluent class in a society. Stones
postulations are more in keeping with poverty as
material deprivation is a resultant effect of poverty, but
deprivation does not purely translate into poverty.
Wanting to understand the crime problem in Jamaica,
Levy (1996) extensively ventured into an elongated
discussion on poverty in a qualitative study and
unemployment. Using purposive sampling, Levy (1996)
studied the conditions of people in some urban violent
communities to establish the crime and poverty
paradigm, which was in keeping with the established
literature on the matter. According to Bourne (2011):
Horace Levy articulated about the crime-andpoverty phenomenon. Much so that even when genuine
issues emerged to the contrary, he spoke of poverty.
The general themes which flowed throughout Levys
research were

Beckers economic crime function establishes that

crime is a function of employment (return from
employments), economic activities outcome of criminal
actions and economic betterment from engagement in
crime. With poverty being an incapacitation, it could be
deduced from utility maximization crime function that
critical to the participation in criminal activities as an
economic medium of survivability created by a failure
of the formal economy. Beckers has set the foundation
for the utilization of econometrics, particularly
regression techniques, in the examination of crime data.
Classical Linear Regression models attempt to assess
the relationship between a single dependent variable
and explanatory (or independent variables). Bourne
(2011) employed classical linear regression model to
data in Jamaica on evaluating macroeconomic factors
of violent crimes. He tested the hypothesis that violent
crimes is influences by selected macroeconomic
variables -in Eq. (2)
y t = f (p t , i t , u t , er t , GDP t ) + e t

(2)

where, y t = number of violent crimes, p t is poverty, i t is

inflation, u t denotes unemployment, er t represents
annual exchange rate and e t is the random error and t
stands for time.
Two of the 5 selected macroeconomic variables
emerged as statistically significant factors of violent
crimes in Jamaica. Poverty was found to have a
spurious relationship with violent crimes, suggesting
that poverty cannot be labeled as a cause of violence in
Jamaica. Unlike Beckers work (Becker, 1968),
Bournes study used macroeconomic variables and
examine the same crime phenomenon. It can be
deduced from Bournes theorizing that involvement in
to crimes, more so violent ones, is an economic issue as
they (exchange rate and GDP account for 79.5
percentage points of the variance in violent crimes).

Finance (little or no money)

High cost of living
Economic pressure
Human suffering because of economics
Economic frustration
How the previously states issues influence crime
and violence; while the discourse surrounds
poverty and unemployment (Bourne, 2011)

Studying a phenomenon (crime) from within

communities in which it is perpetrated, which happen to
be urban inner-city areas cannot be interpreted as
poverty, as those who are not in poverty within these
zones may not be the one committing the violent acts.
In addition to the aforementioned issues, inner-city is
not synonymous with poverty for all as there are people
therein who are not poor (or below the poverty line).
From examining Bournes study (Bourne, 2011), one
will agree with him that economics is misconstrued as
poverty and that poverty is labeled as the cause when
the matter is wider and outside of the poverty issue.
Also Bourne (2011) found that there is an inverse
relationship between gross domestic product,
suggesting that general downturn of the economic
produces the violence and not merely poverty. Bournes
work has some remitted as 2 in every 3 Jamaicans in
poverty (PIOJ and SIOJ, 1989-2010) dwelled in rural

LITERATURE REVIEW
The longstanding theory that poverty is causally
related to crime (Tremblay, 1995) or that there is an
association between the two phenomena (Levy, 1996;
Ellis, 1991, 1992; Moser and Van Bronkhorst, 1999;
Robotham, 2003; Harriott, 2004; Moser and Holland,
1997; UN, 2007) was disproved by Bourne (2011).
Using secondary data for 21 years on Jamaica, Bourne
found that the relationship between poverty and crime
26

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

areas and in those geographical localities, the crimes
are lower. Here the articulation of inequality and
deprivation accounting for crimes, particularly violent
crimes, has not merit and cannot be used to interpret the
crime phenomenon. Bourne aptly summarized the
explanation of the crime issue, when he postulated that:
The title of Horace Levys research highlighted
that he is cognizant of the crime-and-poverty paradigm
and that poverty was broadly labeled to encompass all
the economic issues of the Jamaicans who reside in
urban inner-city communities (Bourne, 2011) It is
therefore easy to have a discourse around poverty as the
cause of crime, particularly violent ones, because the
crime phenomenon occurs in urban inner-city
communities. On careful scrutiny of the data, the issue
of economics is sidelined for poverty as an explanation.
Whether the discourse is about poverty, inequality,
inequity, deprivation or association and/or causation,
using economics to interpret crime is more in keeping
with the social reality in Jamaica. An examination of
the economics of crime is fitting at this point and will
provide a basis upon which the reality of crime is
occurring in Jamaica like what Becker in outside
societies. A study by March and Bourne (2011)
revealed that the exchange rate is strongly related to
murder (adjusted R2 = 90.1%). An interpretation of this
result can provide a comprehensively understanding of
the economics of crime. With the association being a
strong positive association, it follows that rise in the
annual exchange rate in Jamaica (which means a
devaluation in the local currency Jamaica dollar
compared to the United States dollar, USD) will result
in a rise in murders, suggesting that a deterioration in
the Jamaican dollars is highly likely to result in more
murders. The exchange rate is used to calculate the
prices of imported good in Jamaica. With many of the
basic commodities imported from outside Jamaica and
payments are made in USD, a rise in the exchange rate
translates into higher cost of living, general economic
hardship and even if poverty remains the same,
survivability becomes more problematic and of itself
this provides a gateway into criminal activities, like
money laundering, lottery scam, drugs and gun trade
and other activities. The framework for economics and
crime is now set and therefore an examination of
Beckers work are fitting at this point.
o

o
o
o
o
o

credit cards and other kinds of credit, both ratios

have increased sizeably. This reversal can be
explained by an unusual increase in illegal activity,
since currency has obvious advantage over checks
in illegal transactions (the opposite is true for legal
transactions) because no record of a transaction
remains (Becker, 1968). Becker referred to the
interconnectivity between the rise in criminal
activities and currency circulation as an indirect
event and provides justifications for his
propositions. Well, in the latter part of his
postulations, the rise in illegal transaction is
undoubtedly facilitated without the record of a
transaction. The proliferation in Ponzi schemes in
world (CaPRI, 2007; Carvajal et al., 2009; Jarvis,
2000; Stephen, 2008) is a case made to explain the
weaknesses in financial oversights and no records
of transaction and the high probability of this
being a fertile ground for illegal criminal activities.
Hence, when Becker found that
People weigh the likelihood of being caught for a
criminal activity as against the benefits
(punishment)
Money is an inducement for involvement into
criminal activities (economics)
Probability of conviction and time allotted as
punishment (optimal condition)
Damage, cost and supply-of-offences
Fines
Private expenditure against crime, then he had to
conclude that involvement into criminal activities
is an economic issue

On examination of Beckers findings, his work

provide a basis upon which an interpretation of
involvement into crimes can be better explained by with
poverty. Bourne (2011) has already empirical refuted
the null hypothesis that poverty does influence violent
crimes in Jamaica and therefore another explanation
was sought that can provide an understanding of the
crime phenomenon. The strong positive correlation
between violent crimes and the exchange rate not only
concurs with Beckers previous findings, but sets a
platform for a discourse in the general economic
deterioration in the economy of a nation and rise
crimes. What does the devaluation of a local currency
means? The devaluation of a local currency translates
into higher prices in imported good in spite of the
benefit of cheaper prices of the exported items. Rapley
noted that Still, all things considered, it appears that
the benefits of devaluation are, in most cases, modest at
best (Rapley, 2002). He also opined that In subSaharan Africa, this is where the sequence appears to
stop. Devaluation appears to have done little to

One piece of indirect evidence on the growth of

crime is the large increase in the amount of
currency in circulation since 1929. For 60 years
prior to that date, the ration of currency either to all
money or to consumer expenditure had declined
very substantially. Since then, in spite of further
urbanization and income growth and the spread of
27

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

stimulate exports, from the region; the markets for its
good lie primarily in the first world, where demand is
relatively inelastic. Devaluation increases output and
increased output lowers world prices, but these lower
prices do not translate into increased demand the way
they might for goods (Rapley, 2002). The very inelastic
demand for goods on the world market means that
lowering of the prices owing to devaluation in the
currency of the developing nations will not translate
into increased exports. On the other hand, imports
prices become even greater and nature of the inelastic
demand for good, devaluation of the local current
drains the developing nations of hard currencies (USD,
et cetera). The matter is simply not only a vacuuming of
foreign exchange from the developing countries but the
associate socio-economic challenges arising from the
consequence of devaluation of the currency. Rapley
(2002) ably summarized the issue, when he noted that
To begin with, by raising the prices of imported
inputs, devaluation can hurt urban industry. The hurt
goes beyond probability of destroying urban industries
to a rise in violent crimes (Bourne, 2011), particularly
murders (March and Bourne, 2011) and lowering the
life expectancy as violence exterminates the life of
people below 40 years old. Poverty which used as a
scapegoat for the crime phenomenon must now take it
rightfully place, a distant relative to the problem. Trade
liberalization, fluctuating currency and neoclassical
policies have weakened the economic base of
developing nations accounting for traumatic ghost of
violence, particularly murders when ever devaluation of
the currency occurs again. The inverse statistical
correlation between GDP per capita and violent crimes
suggests that involvement into criminal activities rises
in periods of economic downturn (Bourne, 2011);
supporting Beckers theorizing that engagement in
criminality is an economic phenomenon. Embedded in
the aforementioned finding is how deterioration in the
formal economy becomes an inducement for
involvement in the informal economy in developing
countries as it provides an economic options, alternative
economic base. If people are assumed to be
rationalistic, then they will weigh the cost-benefits of
non-inclusion in criminality against the disbenefits of
lower socio-economic opportunities which occur during
periods of economic downturn (or recession). Again,
within the context of rationalistic (not moralistic)
behaviour, the issue of survivability becomes a greater
pull factor into the informal economy (which include
criminality) than the push factor of moral codes. This
accounts for the justifications of Beckers findings on
punishment, optimality, economics and rational choices
as providing the basis for the interpretation of
criminality in developing as well as developed nations.

Beckers work was both a theoretical as well as policy

research as he wanted to address peoples involvement
into criminal activity whether it is based on rationality
(or irrationality). So he noted that:
The main contribution of this essay [study], as I see
it, is to demonstrate that optimal policies to combat
illegal behaviour are part of an optimal allocation of
resources. Since economics has been developed to
handle resource allocation, an economic framework
becomes applicable to and helps enrich the analysis of
illegal behaviour. At the same time, certain unique
aspects of the latter enrich economic analysis: some
punishments, such as imprisonments, are necessarily
non-monetary and are a cost to society as well as to
offenders; the degree of uncertainty is a decision
variable that enters both the revenue and cost function;
etc. (Becker, 1968). Using the concept of rationality,
one may inquire why rural poverty, rural residents and
rural communities have a greater incidence and
prevalence of poverty, yet a lower rate of criminality,
including murders, than in urban inner-city areas? The
answers are also provided by Becker who argues about
punishment being a deterrent; but he did not examine
the role of religious beliefs in rational options even if
the benefits of involvements are high and the
probability of being caught are low. The reality is,
economics provide an explanation for interpreting the
crime phenomenon and although we may want to
divorce the importance of non-monetary approach in
quantitative assessment of an issue, people are equally
rational as they was irrational and both some
simultaneously
happens
in
situations.
The
aforementioned perspectives do not diminish the value
of economics and rationality in the discourse of
peoples involvement in criminality, what it does is to
wider the interpretation of humans behaviour in
explaining the crime phenomenon. It also highlights the
complexity in humans behaviours, the various tenets in
interpreting the behaviours, the importance of
economics in explaining choices relating to
involvement into criminal activities and reasons why
there examinations are critical to problem-solving a
phenomenon. The very complexity of humans
behaviours is a justification for Beckers postulation
that people may conceive using economics to explain
involvement into criminality as a novelty. He noted
that:
Lest the reader be repelled by the apparent novelty
of an economic framework for illegal behaviour, let
him recall that two important contributors to
criminology during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, Beccaria and Bentham, explicitly applied an
economic calculus. Unfortunately, such an approach
has lost favour during the last hundred years and my
28

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

efforts can be viewed as a resurrection, modernization
and thereby I hope improvement on these much earlier
pioneering studies (Becker, 1968). Poverty depicts
deprivation of material resources, inadequacies to
access some goods and services, lower nutritional
intakes, lower capabilities and education, high
unemployment, unhealthy diet and lower health status
(World Bank, 2006; WHO, 2005; Younger, 2002; Sen,
1979) which are stimulating and driving financial
scams lottery and Ponzi (Jamaica Gleaner, 2011a,
2011b, 2011c, Jamaica Observer, 2012; Jamaican Star,
2012) and account for the pull into financial crimes.
Peoples engagements into criminal activities are in
response economic hardship they experience and socioeconomic marginalization (Becker, 1968; Francis et al.,
2001; Levy, 1996).

Fig.1: Linking epistemologies, theories, methodologies and

methods (Crotty, 2005). Four elements of the research
process

preciseness of the direction but that those areas are

must within a research process. While empiricism is
responsible for plethora of germane and critical
discoveries that have aided humans existence, it fails
to explore potent things about people. Peoples
behaviours are not predictable, stationary and while
some generalizability exist therein, the whys
(meanings) are still unasked with the use of empirical
inquiry (or objectivity and measurability). Qualitative
inquiry mitigates against some of the inadequacies of
objectivity, provides rich data on humans experiences
and aids in a total understanding of people (Balashov
and Rosenberg, 2002; Silverman, 2005; Neuman, 2006;
Kuhn, 1996; Berg 2001; Burnham et al., 2004; Goel,
1988; Peters and Bourne, 2012a, 2012b) Thus,
qualitative inquiry should not therefore be seen as an
alternate paradigm to quantitative inquiry, but as a
member of the understanding apparatus. This supports
Schlick (1979) argument that we cannot know the truth
without knowing the meaning (p.15), suggesting a
mixed methods approach is best for human inquiry. For
this study, therefore, a mixed methods approach was
applied as it would provide a more comprehensive
understanding of any single social phenomenon. In
keeping with the scientific research methodologies, this
work utilized content analysis, documentary analysis,
social experimentation, elite interviews and survey
research in order to understand the phenomenon of
Lottery Scam in Jamaica.

METHODOLOGY
Many scholars, for example, (Crotty, 2005;
Neuman 2006; Boxill et al., 1997; Babbie, 2007;
Bryman and Cramer, 2005) have written on social
research methods but the researcher has found Michael
Crottys monograph aptly fitting for this study as it
summarized the research process in a diagrammatic and
systematic manner while providing elaborate details of
each component. In the text titled the foundations of
social research: Meaning and perspective in the
research process, Crotty (2005) aggregated the
research process in four schema (i.e. four questions
which must be answer in examining social phenomena),
namely

Methods
Methodology
Theoretical perspective
Epistemology

The 4 schema of the research process according to

Crotty (2005) are encapsulated into a flow chart (Fig.
1). Michael Crotty, a lecturer in education and research
study at the Flinders University of South Australia,
believed that the purpose of a research guides the
choice of a methodology and method. Of which, the
chosen methodology and method clearly depicts the set
of assumptions the researcher has about reality (Crotty
2005) (i.e. what [he/she] brings to the work?). The
schema of the research process is simply not a
unidirectional model (Crotty, 2005). Crotty (2005)
pointed out that this may process may begin with
epistemology, theoretical perspective, methodology and
method but noted that it may flow from method,
methodology, theoretical perspective and lastly
epistemology. Embedded in this schema is not the

Elite interviews: Semi-structured interviews were

chosen as they were closest to the unstructured
interview which is flexible, iterative and continuous
(Rubin and Rubin, 1995) as well as more likely to yield
information that were not planned for (Leedy and
Ormrod, 2010). Semi-structured interviews allow for
systematic and consistency while giving sufficient
latitude for the subject to digress thus enabling a
deeper probe (Berg, 2001) and facilitating new and
29

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

unexpected information (Daugbjerg, 1998). The use of

semi-structured (instead of structured) format study
enabled to researcher to make deeper probe into lottery
scamming.
Elite interviews are most effective in obtaining
information about decision-making and the decisionmaking process (Burnham et al., 2004) as the subjects
may be treated as experts (Burnham et al., 2004). The
interviews took the form of a guided conversation
(Gubrium and Holstein, 2001) where the interviewees
were seen not as passive conduit for retrieving
information, but more for interpretation and
perspective (ibid) thus facilitating a deep probe. The
questions for the elite interviews were guided by the
literature review and pre-existing notions of the
researcher.

A major reason for the document review was to

assist in triangulating and validating information
obtained in the interview, given that interviews rarely
constitutes the sole source of data in research
(Gubrium and Holstein, 2001; Bryman, 2001; Hertz and
Imber, 1995).
Statistical Analyses: For this study, data were
interpreted using a thematic approach and narrative
analysis.

Focus groups: Focus group is a technique that involves

people in a group discussion setting being prompt in the
area under study (Neuman, 2006; Babbie, 2007). The
researcher uses discussions in order to learn about the
conscious,
semiconscious
and
unconscious
psychological and socio-cultural characteristics
amongst the group (Basch, 1987; Lengua et al., 1992;
Peters and Bourne, 2012a, 2012b; Berg, 2001). They
were used in this research in order to explore the
opinions, thoughts and attitudes of elderly which cannot
be assessing using a quantitative method. Two major
advantages of focus group approach in qualitative
research are that:

Research questions
Contextual framework
Theoretical framework
Methodology
Method
Allow for the interpretation of the data (Burnham
et al., 2004)

Sampling: The logic of sampling is to make inferences

about the population (Berg, 2001; Goel, 1988). Unlike
quantitative approach in which there is a huge emphasis
on probability sampling for representation, qualitative
research design often utilizes non-probability sampling.
In non-probability sampling, the researchers strive to
create a kind of quasi-random sample and/or to have a
clear idea about what larger group or groups the
sampling may reflect (Berg, 2001; Babbie, 2007).
One non-probability sampling approach in
qualitative research is purposive or judgemental
sampling. Effective use of purposive sampling
techniques requires that the researcher utilise his/her
special knowledge or expertise of the subject that is
largely representative of the population (Babbie, 2007).
Hence, a snow balling approach was used to ascertain
scammers, police officers who investigate lottery cases
and key respondents:

The natural setting allows participants to freely

express opinions, ideas and feelings
Focus groups foster expression amongst
marginalized social groups. Within the context of
assessing vulnerability of the elderly who are
among the most marginalized groups in the society,
some of the things which affect them are better
unearth using a discussion instead of a survey
method approach. Within the context of the focus
group discussions, participants can openly
expressed their thoughts, feelings and desires thus
developing what Stewart and Shamdasani (1990)
and Sussman et al. (1991) call the synergistic
group effect in which interactions among and
between group members stimulate discussions and
reactions (Berg, 2001) having gained the trust of
the researcher

Managers in wired transfer companies

Security managers or private security investigators
Key informants
Relative and/or friends of scammers

Data Analysis: Three concurrent actions are pertinent

in the analysis of qualitative data: data reduction, data
display and conclusions and verification (Berg, 2001).
In this research, a substantial amount of raw data taken
in note form was retrieved during the interviews and
focus group sessions. The researcher utilized a thematic
approach (Crotty, 2005) in focussing, simplifying,
transforming thus reducing the voluminous raw data
into different themes. Having formulated a variety of
themes, they were then used to shape the format of the

Documentary reviews: The researcher reviewed

written documents such as published journals, reports,
statistical publications, unpublished masters and
doctorial theses and books on crimes, particularly
financial ones. The review was to determine:
30

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

presentation of findings (narrative, summative) which
later informed conclusions and verifications.

workers. Other individuals include students and

unemployed people whom have access to either
telephone or internet (computer). There were scammers
with between 3 to 7 Caribbean Examination Council
(CXC) subjects, including English Language and
Mathematics. One of the police officers noted that he
investigate a case of a scammer who was 25 years old,
whom owned a household that was valued at Jamaican
$25 millions in St. James (Western Jamaica). At the
time of the arrest, the officers opined that the young
man had USD 120,000 (which is approximately
Jamaican $10.2 million), owned the SUV he was
driving and was well groomed. A senior officer in
Jamaica noted that the scammers mostly reside in St.
James, with Western belt having the majority of
suspected cases (including Westmoreland, Hanover and
Trelawny). The locality of those who operated in St.
James was from the following communities Granville,
Flankers, Mount. Salem, Bogue Village, Bogue
Heights, Lottery, Hurlock, Rose Mount, Belmont,
Maroon Town, Summer Hill, Point, Garland, Hampton
and Anchovy. A senior security manager of one of the
wired transfer companies in Jamaica said that scammer
can be mainly identified by their:

Operational definitions:
Lottery scam: An illegal activity in which someone
seeks another to disburse money to him/her on the basis
that he/she (inducee) has won a prize (or money) in a
lottery game or other gaming. The inducement is such
that the induce has not won anything; but is convinced
that this is so which means that the entire concept is
based on a false claim (premise). In essence, Lottery
Scam is a form of advanced fee fraud.
Economics: This terminology refers to:

Money
Financial resources

Scammers: The individual who carries out the scam by

inducing another to disburse money to him/her on the
premise that he/she (inducee) has won money in a
lottery (or other gaming).
Inducee: The person who receives the message of a
prize won in a gaming activity, particularly a lottery
and is require to forward money to the caller in order to
claim (or receive) the prize (or money). The prize is a
false claim and therefore makes the matter a criminal
offence.

Style of dressing
Colour of garments

He noted in Western Jamaica, particularly

Trelawny (Anchovy) and St. James (Montego Bay)
scammers normally clad in white T-Shirt, blue jeans
pant or short pants and eye-glasses (black lens).
Barnaby (pseudo-name for senior security manage at
the wired transfer companies) reiterated that colour
garments and co-ordination is like a uniform of sort and
consistent across the 2 localities.Another police officer
noted that the majority of the scammers dwelled in St.
James and that the more experienced ones have
migrated to dwell in Kingston and Manchester
(particularly Mandeville). Outcome of those in Jamaica,
the officer opined that intelligence revealed that there
are scammers who live in Panama and the United
States. The private investigator said that some of the
scammers had migrated to Trinidad and Tobago and the
Eastern Caribbean Islands as they believed that
entrapment was closing in on them and that the
operations would be moved to another country. Mr.
Lewis-Powell placed lottery scamming in some
perspective when he said that:
The Lottery Scam was first mainly focused in the
St. James area of Jamaica. It has since spread to all
other parishes, as the scammers tend to move from
parish to parish and to engage persons from different
areas to create a wide network. Scamming activities

Exchange rate: Is the price at which one currency is

sells for another Planning Institute of Jamaica said
(PIOJ, 1971-2011).
Violent crime: (number of violent crime) constitutes
nine offences as labelled by the Jamaican Constabulary
Force (murder, shooting, rape and carnal abuse,
robbery, manslaughter, infanticide, suicide, felonious
wounding and other offences against the person) as
said by Bourne et al. (2012), which is used for this
work. According to Bourne et al. (2012) murder
denotes the number of people unlawfully killed (a crime
causing death without a lawful excuse) within a
particular geopolitical zone (excluding police killings or
homicides)... which provides the interpretation for
murders in this study.
Findings: Data analyses and interpretations:
Background and characteristics of scammers: The
scammers are mostly young people (ages 14-25 years
old) whom are (were) telemarkers (call centres clerks);
data entry clerks; remittance service cashiers; hotel
front desk workers; taxi operators; police personnel;
banking employees; airline staffers; and custom
31

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

have been reported in the Eastern Caribbean that is
similar in operation to those in Jamaica (Personal
communication).

mastermind] has earned approximately Jamaican one

billion dollars from lottery scamming activities, which
indicates the volume involved and how scammers are
able to lavish gifts and acquired particular material
resources. The private investigator noted that I have
witnessed a customer service representative [cashier]
being given money by a scammer. When she refused
the money because he was recognized by the customer
service representative, the scammer openly remarked
that this is your share. And do not behavior as though
this is not your regular amount. The private
investigator opined that when the records were checked,
the named scanner was paid on the day in questioned in
excess of Jamaican $ 200, 000. Further checks revealed
that the named scammer received this amount each day
for week and that it was the same customer service
representative on each occasion. The volume of monies
received by way of Lottery scam in 2008 was estimated
to be Jamaican $2.5 billion (Jamaica Gleaner, 2011c),
which is more than the Jamaican Ministry of National
Security budget (Planning Institute of Jamaica and
Statistical Institute of Jamaica, 1989-2010). Dunkley
(2012) reported In October last year [2011]
commander of the St James Police Division, Senior
Superintendent Linette Williams Martin was reported
by this publication (Jamaica Observer, 2012) as saying
that gains from the lotto scam were expected to reach
US $300 million [Jamaican $2.6 billion] by the end of
last year and was already on the increase in that western
parish from where most of the fraudsters
operate.According to Dunkley (2012) The CCN
[Communication Cable Network] said a total of 65
properties valued at approximately $ 850 million have
been restrained since the inception of the Act. It said
other assets, including furniture and fittings valued at
approximately $ 3.5 million and bank accounts and
monetary instruments amounting to just over $ 30
million were also restrained. The CCN said there have
also been 11 money-laundering charges with 2
convictions since the start of 2011. The volume of
money in lottery scamming is such that workers in
hotels and the wired transfer sector have left to be
employed in the lottery scamming, the senior manager
of security said. Such a career switching was pointed by
scammers, police officers and private investigator. The
senior security manager of one of the wired transfer
companies said they have lost employees to the lottery
scamming sector. He opined that wage paid by his
company is substantially lower than the likely sum to
be had from lottery scammers or scamming. The
manager noted that if a customer service representative
(or cashier) can be given Jamaican $ 5,000 per
transaction by the scammer, if there are 3 such
transactions for the day, this would mean that for a

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF
SCAMMING IN JAMAICA
A senior police officer said he was the first to
arrest a scammer in 1998. During the interview with the
senior police officer and one of the leading financial
crimes investigator on lottery scamming in Jamaica,
Ms. Arrest (pseudo name), said that the first group of
people were Nigerians. They noted that four Nigerians
operated the scamming business from Montego Bay, St.
James (Western Jamaica). The Nigerians were later
deportee and Jamaican $1.4 returned to scammed
victims; but by then they had interfaced with many
Jamaicans who were introduced into the activities.
Both police officers contended that when the matter
came up in 1998, it was because of 15 complaints made
by people in American whom claimed that they had
won Australian Sweepstake from a Jamaican area code
and were experiencing collected their prized money.
Finances/Economics: Money is the primary
inducement for involvement and entry into the Lottery
Scam Industry. All the police officers and private
investigator concur that the volume of money was a
pull factor into Lottery Scamming activities. One police
officer noted that greed was the motivated and another
remarked the benefits of spending power as well as the
likely accumulation of material possessions drove the
activity and attract new entrants. One senior police
officer remarked that many of the scammers owned cars
(including SUVs); luxurious mansions; families are
well pampered; current scammer have lavish lifestyle
and sport luxuries gifts as well as spend extravagantly
on gifts. He noted that a scammer was caught when he
went to purchase a gift, opened a briefcase of USD in
front of a store clerk and offered to buy the item paying
in cash. Current scammers, wanting updated
information (bio-data as well as credit card, banking
data, telephone number and internet contact) on likely
inducees, would give lavish gifts to telemarkers. Wired
transactions clerks are also charm with expensive gifts,
monies and their families sported in order to induce
participation from the employed clerks.
According to Jamaica Gleaner, the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) Arm of the United
States Department of Homeland Security estimated that
US citizens were scammed US$ 30 million per year by
Jamaicans (Jamaica Gleaner, 2011c). The Jamaican
Gleaner in 2011 (Jamaica Gleaner, 2011b) indicated
that the police said Lawrence [alleged Lottery scammer
32

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

week at the same rate, the cashier would have earned
Jamaican $ 50,000 which exponentially more than the
individuals pay for the time. A lottery scammer said
that:
Me nuh know about a nex man but fi me, me can
collect about six grand US a week. When me gi dat to
the man dem, dem gimme my piece (Personal
communication from
scammer). Suggesting that
he earns approximately USD 24, 000 (or Jamaican $2.1
million; USD 1 = Ja $ 89 at the time of the interview
(Personal communication).
Mr. Lewis-Powell (pseudo name), a security
personnel with one of the wired transfer business in
Jamaica offered an indication of the volume of money
he believed that the scammers handle. He contended
that:
While it is not easy to tell, published figures by law
enforcement agencies locally and internationally
indicate somewhere around US$30Million has been
fleeced via the Lottery Scam. I believe it is far more
than this however as this figure does not capture the
persons who have been scammed but have not reported
the matter (Personal communication).
In response to the question of On average, how
much money do scammers receive monthly? Mr.
Lewis-Powell opined that:
On average a scammer will collect up to 3
transactions per day. They will not do more because
they are aware that it would cause red flags if more
transactions are done. The scammers study the
procedures within the remittance companies and are
aware that if there are more than two or 3 transactions
for one person within the system per day, it is
considered suspicious activity and the transactions and
individuals get flagged. Based on carrying out
operations about (12) days out of every month (3 per
week), a scammer can make about USD 4,800 monthly
[approximately, Jamaican 427, 200] - (Personal
communication).
Ms. Arrest and the senior police officer said that
the economic resources of scammers are such that they
are able to rent hotel suites for months, in order to carry
out their operations. The senior officer opined that a
case of scamming was reported to the police by a
manager of a hotel in St. James who observed that a
group of men whom had rented a suite for a month
would go to a particular automated cash machine at
regular intervals. The senior officer said that the police
formal began a surveillance which noted that a group of
men would come to a particular automated cash
machine every one half of an hour to withdraw cash.
When the men were followed to the suite with which
they stayed, it was discovered that they had master
jacks, laptops, mobile phones and some of the latest

technological devices that were a part of the lottery

scamming operations. They men were found with duffel
bags with millions of Jamaican dollars. Ms. Arrest
noted that the police have tried seeking that the monies
be returned to the victims. She said the matter is
difficult as the laws do not allow for this provision and
to date the money is still with the police. Officer Ms.
Arrest lamented that some senior citizens in Minnesota
were scammed USD 450,000 in less than a month, in
twenty instalments (approximately, Jamaican $ 37.4
million; USD $1.00 = Jam. $ 83.00). Both Ms. Arrest
and the senior police officer argued that the scammers
are so wealthy than many of them carry out their
operations from hotel in Montego Bay. The scammer
rent hotel suites for months and their operations are
carried out therein said the officer. A collection
scammer (Mr. Matthews pseudo name) when asked
what the volume of money made on averaged is weekly
said that:
Millions of dollars, because there are times when
we are collecting over fifteen thousand US dollars
(USD $15,000.00) for a week.
Ms. Parkinson (pseudo name for a compliance
manager at one of the wired transfer businesses in
Jamaica) responded to the volume of money that is
made by scammers on averaged monthly said the sum
range between USD 5,000 to USD 50,000 (ie.,
Jamaican $ 415,000 to Jamaican $ 4.2 million; USD
$1.00 is equivalent to Jamaica $83).
A senior police officer noted that a 22 year old
lottery scammer was found with Jamaica $ 30,000,000
(USD 371,142.86; USD 1.00 = Jamaican 84.00) and his
home was valued at Jamaican $ 40,000,000 (USD
476,190.48; USD 1.00 = Jamaican 84.00). The arresting
officer contended that the younger was confused having
had this amount of money and it was spiralling into
gang violence between his group and another.
Information: Scammers are willing to pay telemarkers,
bank employees, airline staffers, cashiers, hotel
employees and internet hatchers for personal, banking
and telephone information of people according to
offices, investigators and scammers. The information
are then packaged to be used by the telemarkers,
students and other females who are prepared from a
script as to their duties, sound and approach to the
scamming activity. The scripts are standardized from
call centre manuals as well as from the FBI. On the
other hand, a senior manager at one of the wiretransferred companies in Jamaica (pseudo name Mrs.
Paulis Pinnockevich) contended that she became aware
of the lottery scam on newscast and the newspaper
articles. Mrs. Pinnockevich words emphasize the
information gap in the lottery scam saga:
33

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

When she was asked What is the volume of
money in the sector? How do you determine this?
which she responded:
I am not sure of the figure but estimate it to be in
the area of hundreds of millions in total, based on
newspaper and television reports that describe the
industry as a multimillion dollar per annum business
(Mrs. Pinnockevich, written communication).On the
question of On average, how much money do
scammers receive monthly? she said:
Again based on media reports in excess of 100
million in total (Mrs. Pinnockevich, written
communication)
On the question of Where were they operating
from? which Mrs. Pinnockevich said: Operating out of
Montego Bay and its immediate environs (Mrs.
Pinnockevich, written communication) and this was
confirmed by some senior police officers. The senior
police officers as well as the senior security manager
contended that the geographic locality of scammers
extend to Falmouth (Trelawny), Negril (Hanover),
Manchester, Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth. One
senior police officer noted that lottery scamming is also
operating from in Kingston. When the scammer was
asked If he has ever been caught he responded no.
And when the researcher probed as to why he remarked
that Cant tell yu dat. Me know say police get fidem
food to so mi nuh know (personal communication
from scammer).The scammer said that lottery
scamming is widespread in Jamaica and that it includes
outside people. A compliance manager at one of the
wired transfer businesses in Jamaica who was asked
How were you made aware of the lottery scamming?
said:
My job function requires transaction analysis at a
financial institution. Transaction activity of various
customers, as well as conversations with the front line
associates/tellers processing transactions revealed the
existence of the Lottery Scam (Personal communication
of compliance manager Ms. Parkinson (pseudo
name)) Ms. Parkinson contended that wired transfer
companies provide local law enforcement officers with
information on likely lottery scammers, their
operations, sums collected and who are the runners
(collectors).

friends sported Escalades, expensive watches, owned

apartments and had employees. He said that My friend
had six employees and men with guns to protect him for
likely dangers. Although the Observers friends father
was imprisoned for Lottery Scamming, it did not deter
the son from becoming the boss as the luxury, choice,
options and spending power pulled him to this activity.
The alternative path was low salary, little opportunities,
material deprivation and minimal survivability outside
of the Lottery scamming. Furthermore, the observer
opined that his friend travels to different international
destination once per week and that purchasing power
was a critical factor in the engagement into the industry.
A scammer said that he spent the money, the
response was:
Flat screen, car, gal it out. We haffi clean so Ralph
lauren, kickas, platinum and rose gold we say. Town
man say clarkes but a we say kickas. Baby modda and
mummy haffi clean too so yu done know.
He also noted that:
How do you manage the possibility of being
caught? Well anyting a anyting
innuh a
jus life we say right now. If we get ketch a
so (Personal communication).
Mr. Lewis-Powell noted that:
When having informal discussions with them
[lottery scammers], they are usually guarded in
their responses. However, they have indicated that,
in their opinion it is quick money; getting back at
white people who have enslaved black people for
hundreds of years; because they are not seeing their
victims face to face they do not believe that they
are doing any real harm at the end of the day if
the victims are gullible enough to send the money
they deserve to be scammed. Because they use the
ill-gotten gains to take care of their families and
communities, they use it as a level of power. It is
easy money to protect themselves from other gangs
and to protect their communities. Some scammers
use the funds to pay for protection, case in point
the stone crusher gang being paid to protect
members of the homosexual community who it is
believed are heavily involved in the lottery scam.
(Personal Communication).
A police officer who is responsible for
investigating lottery scams (Ms. Arrest) postulated that:

Inducements and lifestyle: All the participants in this

study (investigators, police and scammers) reported that
the volume of money, purchasing power,
unemployment, deterioration in the local economy,
economic suffering (or hardship), luxuries and the low
risk of being caught were among the pull factors to
Lottery scamming. One observer (friend of scammers)
remarked that he was asked to join the activities as his

34

Lottery scammers would keep monthly parties

where they would compete on who can burn the
most US dollars
Host parties where champagne would use to wash
shoes
Purchase properties; build luxuries homes and
sometimes huge houses will be less than a month

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

Both Ms. Arrest and a senior police officer
remarked that two of the features of lottery scammers
were:

o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o

Plasma television in their homes

The latest technological devices
Ms. Arrest noted that she arrested a lottery
scammer who had with him
Jamaican $1.5 million
An usual Nokia mobile phone

Enforcers
Liaison with hotel workers, cashiers (customer
service representatives), tellers
Assigned to recruiting call centre representatives

One lottery scammer noted that:

I go pick up the money. Me nuh call no the people
dem or nutting. Me just wait pon a link, afta di man
dem mek di call, dem tell me weh fi go. I get
different different ID inna different different name
and me go different place go pick up. When me
colleck me bring it back go gi di man dem and a
some eat a food. Nuff man violate and try tek di
money or go pon dem own or scam from scammer
and a so di killing start inna di ting. If dem cant
ketch the man weh dis di programme dem wi
duppy up him whole family (Personal
communication from scammer).

She said that having no witness he was release and

request a return of the mobile phone and that she would
keep the money. Ms. Arrest recalled another incident
when scammer bought a property for farming in
Mandeville, Manchester. She also noted that lottery
scammers would give people USD 20,000 to share
among their families (approximately Jamaican $1.7
million; USD $1.00 = Jam. $ 83.00). Ms. Arrest said it
is difficult seeing how they live in context of the
changed lives of the scammed and the cyber law is not
in keeping with the crimes and time. She said that a
lottery scammer was arrested who had Jamaican $ 2.5
million and was driving a SUV vehicle was valued
approximately Jamaican $ 7 million. Ms. Arrest that on
his bail, 3 h later he was seeing drive Japanese make
vehicle valued at Jamaican $1.8 million.
The senior police officer in charge of Organized
Crime in Jamaica reported that lottery scamming
blossomed following the arrest and extradition to
America one of the leading narcotic players in Western
Jamaica.

Mr. Lewis-Powell gave a similar list like the police

as to those who are lottery scammers. He listed:
students; unemployed; senior citizens; call centre
employees; remittance agency customer service
representatives; police, gangsters; ex-druggists and the
family members of some of these persons.
Resources: The operation of the Lottery Scam is
facilitated by:

Facsimile
Computers
Telephones

(Including mobiles) and internet service and office

buildings. One of the police offices remarked that the
operation of the Lottery Scam is even functional from
an office like a register company. A senior police
officer revealed that the more established scammers
operate outside of reputable office spaces as though it is
a legitimate business, with employed staffers.

Players:
The players in the Lottery Scam Industry is equally
outside of telemarkers, Wired transactions cashiers,
students, bank clerks and direct scammers to police
officers. A senior police officer who was conferred
by private investigators and actual scammers that
police personnel are also a part of the process. The
actuality of the aforementioned is also confirmed
by two police officers being charged for breaches
of anti-corruption Act (Jamaica Observer, 2012).
Lottery scammers have
Responsibility
Authority

Other crimes: There was consensus among the

investigators and police officers that Lottery crimes
are linked to other violence crimes. One private
investigator noted that a wired transactions cashier
(clerk) was shown a photography of a women appeared
to have been killed with what appeared to by gunshot
wounds to the head, bloody and lying on the ground by
a scammer who wanted the clerk to pay out money in a
scam account. The matter was confirmed by the police
and the clerk was traumatized for some time. The senior
officer said that the current (since 2009) is a by-product
of the Lottery Scam.
Police officers noted that they have investigated
claims of bribery, threats against life and property of

There are lottery scammers who are:

o Responsibility for conceptualizing the activities
o Scouting new scammers
o Seeking new victims
o Collectors
o Trainers
35

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

telemarkers, cashiers at Wired transactions offices,
police personnel ...A chief investigator in Western
section of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF, Year)
noted that the other crimes also include:

to young youth as protect (security guards) and the

suspicious position of other scams wanting to scam
them. He noted that intelligence revealed that guns
were being bought in Haitians in Rocky Point and/or
Pedro Keys, Clarendon. Barnaby argued that the young
security protectors of the scammers are the people who
carry out killings on the advice of the scammers and
terrorized communities members in order that they can
support the scamming process. The report by Barnaby
was confirmed by the police and agreed with by the
scammers.
Another crime which has emerged out of the
lottery scammers design is wire switching. Barnaby
noted that this has plagued in company for some time
and that they have lost millions as a result of this
transactional wire switching process. He outlined how
the process works as the Lottery scam would come in
pairs to a customer service representative (cashier) and
give him/her say USD 1,000 in 10 dollar notes. The
money is stocked in a single batch by a rubber band to
one of the ends. The lottery scammers bargain for a
higher rate than the stipulate exchange rate for the day.
The cashier then requests the intervention of the
supervisor who will give the approval of a higher rate.
Barnaby opined that before the cashier can complete the
payment, the scammers then stop the process by
insisting that they are able to get a higher rate
somewhere else. The cashier will then take the money
from the cash register stock them together. The
scammers then request that the cashier place a rubber
band on the end of the pile of cash and call it. They
remain at the window and another scammer then switch
the stock of USD which was just given by the cashier
with another. The new stock of USD of ten dollar notes
are substantially replaced with one dollar notes and
given to the cashier to continue with the transaction.
The cashier believing that the stock of currency is the
same as the one just return do not verify its correctness
but continues the pay the equivalent in Jamaican. When
the stock of money is checked at the end of the business
day, the cashier now finds that the batch of currency is
mostly one dollar notes in USD and that the value is
about USD 100 instead of USD 1000. The Police
(Organized Crime Investigation Division (OCID) of the
Jamaica Constabulary Force) investigations have
revealed that motor vehicle stealing in Kingston, St.
Andrew and St. Catherine have been associated with
lottery scamming, which was concurred with by private
investigators, senior security manager and scammers.
When a scammer was asked After the initial start
up process of scamming, have you or are you involved
in any other criminal activity (including murder, money
laundering, rape, others?, he remarked Tings gwaan
yes, but yu done know the hundred; man annuh informa

Embezzlement
Credit card fraud
Vehicle racketeering
Illegal possession of guns
Robbery
Murder
Shootings
Mail fraud
Wire fraud and theft of computers

A report from the Jamaica Gleaner (2011c) from

another source (US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) office at the embassy in Kingston,
Jamaica) concurs with the officers listing of other
crimes which arise following the Lottery Scam. In
2012, 2 police officers were changed for breaches of the
Anti-Corruption Act and illegal possession of firearms
(guns) (Jamaica Observer, 2012). According to the
Jamaica Observer, INDECOM [private investigator of
police shootings that result in a death of a citizen in
Jamaica] reports that a complaint was made to them in
October 2011, which alleged that the cops acted in
concert with the complainant to rob some individuals
who were a part of the lottery scam. The complainant
further alleged that after the robbery took place he went
with the police officers to an address in Kingston where
he was shot repeatedly and left for dead (Jamaica
Observer, 2012). From the Jamaica Observer report, the
complaint that survived following the shooting incident
pleaded guilty and was sentenced (Jamaica Observer,
2012). The private investigates remarked that some of
the murders in Western Jamaica were among scammers.
He noted that scam would scam other scammers and
this oftentimes results in disputes which escalate into
murders, shootings, arson and dislocation of families. In
2006, Divisional Intelligence Unit in St. James of the
JCF statistics showed that 397 murders were related to
the Lottery Scam. Outside of murders in the period, the
statistics had 283 non fatal shooting Lottery Scam
related and that dislocation was high in the Division.
Furthermore, the private investigator said that customer
service representatives have been murdered, abandon
their jobs and some had ran away from the area because
they object to the Lottery Scam. What are the
customer service representatives to do as they reside in
the same communities as the Scammers? Barnaby
cited that the volume of money held by scammers and
the high risk involved in the activity has resulted in the
purchase of guns from Haiti, distribution of illegal guns
36

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

you simmi daa-dee. The perspective means that other
criminal activities have been engaged into by scammer
including murder (ie., Tings gwaan).

foreign nationals carried out by way of telephoning or

emailing the inducee who is informed of having won a
prize in a lottery game (or vacation). The inducee is
sold the idea that prize can be claimed by forwarding
money (or monies) to the callers (or emailees) in order
to obtain or access the prize. The money (or monies)
that the inducee is required to pay will cover any of the
following:

Profile induces: The police officers and/or

investigators (including private individuals) noted that
the socio-demographic profiles of inducees are mainly:

Elderly (people 60+ years)

Retirees
Pensioners
Online gamblers
People in financial troubles
Internet users and people who are involved in
business transactions online
Vacationers
Seniors experiencing ill-health and others
(including low income earners and gullible
peoples)

The operations of the Lottery Scam have resulted

in the closure of Money Gram in Western Jamaica
(Jamaica Gleaner, 2011a). The Lottery Scam is also
facilitated by the financial companies such as Money
Gram and wired transactions as employees aid the
process by:

The majority of inducees are Americans, but it

extends to people who are residents of:
o
o
o

Taxes
Legal costs
Federal charges
Courier service costs
Investigatory and administrative charges

o
o
o

Singapore
Canada
United Kingdom, although it is not limited to those
localities

The police officer in charge of investigations of

financial crimes, especially lottery scam (Ms. Paulize
Arrest pseudo name) remarked that 12 out of 15
witnessed (elderly retirees) die shortly after they were
scammed by people in Jamaica. Two senior police
officers contended that there are cases where some
seniors in Minnesota lost their home and were living in
shelters. One of the senior police officers on the lottery
scam issue noted that on listening to the complainants
(seniors) some he breaks down (i.e., become
depressed). Ms. Arrest opined that there is a senior
citizen in Minnesota who contacts her each time a
scammer calls. She noted that the frequency and timing
of the calls deal to changing of her private mobile
telephone numbers. Ms. Arrest noted that even then the
senior unknown called her and she wandered how the
senior got the number. All the senior officers, other
police personnel and a particular scammer said it was
heart-breaking to hear the complaints of the senior
citizen and how many of them were destroyed by
lottery scamming.

Removing the funds

Courier funds to particular locations
Allow scammers to use falsified identifications
(including TRN Taxpayer Registration Number)
in order to receive the funds

The private investigated remarked that he has seen

Lottery Scam unfolding at one of a wired transactions
outlet in Western Jamaica, where a scammer had called
a prospective inducee informing him/her that he/she
had won the lottery. The investigator noted that the man
spoke with the American slang. He (investigator)
questioned the manager about this practice and the
manager remarked Look outside what do you? Do you
see the number of men outside there, their faces,
mannerism and the fact that some of them may have
gun?
The police are indirectly a part of the operations,
the private investigator remarked. Instead of solving
Lottery Scam, he noted that police officers prey on the
scammers. He said the Police oftentimes scam the
scammers. In that they (police) will allow the
scammers to collect the money, hold them on leaving
the outlet, take them away in a vehicle and rob them.
The scammers cannot report being rob as they have
fictitious names as well as What will they say to police
personnel at the station the investigator said. The
investigator is partially correct as police officers have
been arrested for breaching the Anti-Corruption Act, a
matter which was reported by a scammer (Jamaica
Observer, 2012).

Operations of scheme: All the investigators (including

private individuals) and/or police officers noted that the
Lottery Scam is facilitated with the illegal means with
which the scammers obtain data on unsuspected
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Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

Security personnel (Mr. Lewis-Powell, pseudo
name) with a wired transfer organization in Jamaica
ably state how the lottery operates:
Unscrupulous Jamaicans contact unsuspecting
senior citizens especially from the rural areas of the
United States and inform them that they have won
sweepstakes. It is a known fact that American
pensioners tend to play the sweepstakes so it is not
unreasonable for them to believe they have won. The
scammer will contact them from information received
from persons working in hotel, credit card or other call
centres based locally or from the transaction receipts of
legitimate customers who drop them in the bin at
remittance agency locations. The victims are advised
that they need to send a processing fee to collect the
funds; sometimes even the image of a cheque is
emailed to the victim as proof that the win is legitimate.
The fee can range from USD$ 200 - $ 2,000. In order to
win their confidence the scammers tell the victim things
that they would consider personal (middle name, email
address, social security number, etc). Once the
confidence is won the victim sends the processing fee
through a remittance agency to the scammer in Jamaica.
When the scammer receives it, he informs the victim
that there was some glitch and they need to pay a
further processing fee to clear that glitch. After two or 3
times with the same victim, the scammer passes on this
contact to a different scammer and no longer contacts
them. By this time the victim, having been fleeced of
thousands of dollars in processing fees, will contact
their local police and inform them of what transpired.
Most likely when the second scammer makes contact
with the victim, they might tell them that they have
reported the matter and will not send any more fees.
The local police will contact their Jamaican
counterparts and initiate an investigation. When this
happens, another scammer or the same scammer will
contact the victim and inform them that they are a law
enforcement agent assigned to investigate the matter,
using the same personal information to win their
confidence. They will then ask the victim to send
another transaction to the scammer so that the law
enforcement officer can track the activity and capture
the scammer. When some of the victims catch on after
the first attempt and let the scammer know they will not
send any more money; the scammer will send a small
amount of money (USD$ 5-40) to the victim through
the remittance agency and tell them to contact the
agency to verify if their winnings have been sent.
Because the remittance agencies will only indicate that
a transfer is there for the victim without divulging the
amount, the victim will believe that the large sum of
money is there and will send the processing fee. Some
victims are threatened with violence if they decide not

to send the processing fee which they believe is

possible because the scammer has such personal
information as their address and they believe they can
get to harm their family. The scammers use blocked
phone numbers, magic jacks and US accents, cell
phones, fraudulent identifications, identification making
machines and laptops with internet access, as part of
their operations (Personal communication)
Ms. Arrest and the senior police officer noted that
scammers (caller) begin the dialogue to the intended
inducee by saying - You have just won the American
sweepstake valued at USD 25 million and to claim you
prize you need to pay some legal and federal cost.
They opined that sometimes an inducee is given US
Federal cheque 5,000 for spending, unknowing to the
inducee that this is a hoax, the induce will begin to
spend their cash. In addition, the scammer then request
that the inducee forward money through post, western
union and money gram to a named person. Both Ms.
Arrest and the senior police officer said that scammers
would employ deported Americans in their operations
to have the American enunciation.
Involvement: A scammer contended that:
Yu did know nuttn naah gwaan, nuh work nun
den. Man and man see man a eat food and me just
go wid d flex. Man a roll deep, dem step out clean.
A clean we say. Cause from you clean di girl dem
ago latch on. Yu done know how it goes, a money
and sex we say (Personal communication from
lottery scammer).
All the non-scamming participants in this study
(police, manager at wire transfer business and security
manage for one of the major wire transfer entity)
contended that the scamming provided the lottery
scammers
with financial resources, options,
opportunities and choices that they would not have had
access if they were otherwise engaged. The engagement
into lottery scamming uses a similar approach as snow
balling as current scammers identify individuals who
are from the community, who are unemployed, with
family, young, want opportunities and mostly those
who have children. When a scammer was asked by the
team of researchers How were you made aware of the
Lottery Scam? he remarked Man from the community
tell me about it. On the question of How were you
introduced into lottery scamming? Man from me
community bring me inna it he said. The answer to a
particular question by the lottery scammer aptly
summarised the pull factor into scamming. When the
scammer was asked What are some of the privileges in
lottery scamming? He opined that As a youth we nay
38

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

work an ting, you get if go certain place, eat certain
food. And from you floss certain way did girl deem ago
come in.
Mr. Lewis-Powell provided his interpretation of
why scammers become involved into this activity. The
reasons were:

lottery scamming operations was in close proximity to

police post and known by the police officers.
Furthermore, police officers have been corrupted by the
lure of the money by scammers and this is capture in a
response made by a scammer - Me know say police get
fidem food to so mi nuh know. This means that police
officers are paid off in order for them not to prosecute
scammers.
A response made by a scammer envelopes the gap
between those at the top and ordinary (line) scammers.
In response to the question After the initial start up
process of scamming, have you or are you involved in
any other criminal activity (including murder, money
laundering, rape, others? the scammer stated that
Tings gwaan yes, but yu done know the hundred; man
annuh informa yu simmi daa-dee. He meant that
criminal activities have occurred in the past, but the
entire thing is held from them (line scammer).
An educated lottery scammer - a collector - when
asked Where were they operating from? remarked:
The real culprits do not perform these tasks
themselves as they have front men and as soon as they
become familiar they are changed or relocate to
different regions with different identifications (personal
communication).
The comment of the scammer emphasises the
structure in lottery scamming, the authority and
involvement of people at different stages and how the
operation has multi-layers.

Greed
Unemployment
Culture - Anansi/Jinalship is engrained in our
culture. Jamaicans tend to look for ways to break a
system. Get rich quick mentality and flamboyance
Replacement of funds from the crippling of the
drug trade.

Authority: The police reported that there is a chain of

command in the lottery scamming industry. A senior
officer noted that there are:

Master minds
Intermediate players
Outside aiders (cashiers, hotel workers, call centre
representatives)
Ordinal players

A senior security officer of a wired transfer

business in Jamaica contended that the head for the
scamming in Montego Bay (St. James) were
homosexuals and that they use the resources to allure
other young vulnerable men into the lifestyle. None of
the scammers spoke to this issue, but the matter was
confirmed by police officers. Those who control the
scamming business were referred to as the boss and/or
top man. This was captured by a question (Who are
some of the players?) asked to which a scammer
responded:
Well u done know di top man dem control di ting
but everybody inna it. From granny to baby (Personal
communication of scammer)
Another scammer who was formerly a collections
agent said that lottery scamming is headed by a
financial master mind who is usually a don (leader of a
gang or druggist). Mr. Matthews (pseudo name)
contended that
Though we are organized and while extensive we
are very close knit. In most cases we are headed by a
Don or Senior security officials/ law enforcers who
aids us to be one step ahead of the police as the
information is passed on to us (Personal communication
by Matthews).
There were lottery scamming organizations,
headed by a boss who has paid employees who are
assigned prescribed tasks. In fact, some of the formal

Resolution: On the matter of how to effectively address

the problem (lottery scamming in Jamaica), the views
vary depending on the individual interviewed. Most of
the police officers believed that:

More sanction
More stringent punishment
Economic opportunities
Re-education
Values-and-attitude rebuilding is needed to curb
lottery scamming in Jamaica

The private security personnel as well as the

manager for one of the wired transfer businesses in
Jamaica contended that:
o Economic marginalization
o Disparity in opportunities
o Social exclusion account for the lottery scamming
dilemma and that the scamming phenomenon can
only be addressed from the root and not mere
employment
The scammers, on the other hand, said that they
find it extremely difficult to survive otherwise and mere
39

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

employment is marginally better than unemployment.
While on being engaged in lottery scamming, they are
able to afford luxuries, meet basic need, care for the
family, attain and receive respect and avoid destitution.
When the scammers were asked How can lottery
scams are effectively addressed in Jamaica? He said
Scamming caant done, caw right about now all police
inna di ting so scamming caant done. Right about now
di ting govern a way dat it big. A dat me a tell yu.
Mr. Lewis-Powell gave a somewhat different
viewpoint from the scammers on the way forward,
when he offered these perspectives that:
All stakeholders: the police, judiciary, victims,
remittance agencies must be on-board / work together
for the dissolution of the lottery scam. The first step has
been taken with the introduction of the Proceeds of
Crime Act (POCA). The police need to expedite putting
the cases before the court and the judiciary must
expedite the prosecution of the cases, as the saying goes
Justice delayed is justice denied. The victims need to
be less gullible and the remittance agencies must
embark on a sustained education campaign about the
lottery scam. The betting gaming and lotteries
commission has a responsibility to embark on some sort
of
public
education
initiative
(Personal
communication).

It is widely believed that the proceeds of crime, aid

criminals in their operation (Schneider, 2008). It is this
thinking that informs the anti-money laundering
provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act and/or the US
PATRIOT Act. These provisions create specific money
laundering offences, outline applicable penalties and
impose obligations on businesses in regulated sectors to
take active steps to prevent and detect money
laundering. A failure to observe these statutory antimoney laundering obligations could turn the unwitting
business into a silent partner in crime and an offender
under the Act (BoJ, 2009). It is therefore essential to
have an understanding of the content and scope of these
obligations. The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC
formerly Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT))
has published a document entitled Global AML
compliance management framework (RBC, 2011)
which outlines a clear guideline on the phenomenon,
compliance and regulations that should be followed in
keeping with the overarching framework of AntiMoney Laundering and Counter-Financing of
Terrorism in the world. One of the most important antimoney laundering obligations under the Act in Jamaica
(POCA Money Laundering Prevention (MLP) Act,
2007 in BoJ, 2007) is the duty of businesses in the
regulated sector to report suspicious transactions to a
nominated officer or to a designated authority, which
are equally outlined in Royal Bank of Canada
compliance management framework on AML (RBC,
2011). A suspicious transaction is essentially one,
which could constitute or be related to money
laundering. In this regard, an offence is committed if a
person knows or believes, or has reasonable grounds for
knowing or believing that another person has engaged
in a suspicious transaction; the information came to that
person in the course of a business in the regulated
sector and the person does not disclose the information
to a nominated officer or designated authority (BoJ,
2009). Financial institutions, particularly in Jamaica,
are required under the regulations to report cash
transactions involving prescribed amounts to the
designated authority. The prescribed amount is US$
5,000.00 or more for money transfer and remittance

POCA: The current Acts, Regulations and Guidance

being used by the financial institutions in Jamaica are:

issues, client identification procedures, record

keeping and reporting procedures
The bank of Jamaica 2004 (Revised 2009)
guidance notes on the detection and prevention
of money laundering and terrorist financing
activities: Issued by the Bank of Jamaica, these
Guidance Notes provide guidance to regulated
financial institutions about their AML/CTF
obligations and outline best practice procedures to
combat money laundering and terrorism financing

The proceeds of crime act 2007 (POCA): This

Act defines the offense of money laundering and
specifies the corresponding penalties. The Act
details the reporting requirements that financial
institutions must comply with, including
Suspicious Transaction Reporting. The Act also
provides for the forfeiture of assets related to
criminal activity
The proceeds of crime regulations 2007: These
Regulations govern the commencement and
conclusion of proceedings for the offenses under
the POCA
The proceeds of crime (Money Laundering
Prevention)
regulations
(2007):
These
Regulations outline the operational and regulatory
control requirements that financial institutions must
comply with in order to meet their obligations
under the POCA
The terrorist prevention regulations (2010):
These Regulations outline the responsibilities of
reporting entities under the Terrorism Prevention
Act 2005, with regards to internal management
40

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

agents or agencies; US$ 8,000.00 or more for cam bios
and bureaux de change and US$ 15,000.00 or more for
any other financial institution. The Anti-Money
Laundering compliance strategies whether in Jamaica
or other jurisdictions seek to protect the general
economy, especially financial institutions from money
launderers; but one scholar notes that it influences the
efficiency in banking operations (Masciandaro, 1998).
Another researcher went further to say that it is totally
ineffective in addressing drug trafficking and could
account for other major crimes such as 1) kidnapping,
2) smuggling and 3) racketeering (Rahn, 2001). Rahn
went on to say that anti-money laundering in the United
States is clearly a situation in which police creating
increased demand for their services by inventing new
crimes, which in turn creates a new criminal industry to
evade the new laws (Rahn, 2001). Such a perspective
is unjustifiable and Rahn cannot deny that the
associations between criminal activities, particularly
guns and drugs trafficking and:

876 area code: Ms. Arrest and some senior police

officers noted that the financial embezzlement had
destroyed the live of countless American senior citizens
that the American government had contemplated
banning the 876 area code (Jamaican area code). The
rationale for this consideration was that the lottery
scamming was facilitated through this area code and it
was resulted in financial crimes that cost the Labour
department some 80 percentage points of its budget to
address the problem. The extent of the crime was ably
given by Ms. Arrest that last week (March and Bourne,
2011), an American came on a flight to Montego Bay to
claim his property in Western Jamaican that he bought
for USD 150,000 (approximately Jamaican $ 12.8
million; USD $ 1.00 = Jam $85). The officer said that
the elderly gentleman came on a one way ticket to
Montego Bay claiming he had bought the Montego Bay
Pier One for USD 150,000. He showed the police the
land title, property tax receipt and a copy of the cheque
he said the lesser. Ms. Arrest said that the scammed
gentleman told the Jamaican police that the caller made
him aware of the sale, the lucrative offer and that they
should not let a scammer embezzle him of his funds and
this is frequently the practice in Jamaica. The
gentleman also told them of the lawyer who called him
to finalize the transaction and how the individual
forewarned him of scamming. He was also aid he was
warned by a Federal agent in the United States who
called him before the deal had come to a closure. Ms.
Arrest contended that the Jamaican police were unable
to convince the gentleman that the Montego Bay Pier
One is not for sale and that the whole thing was a hoax.
Ms. Arrest recalled of a case where an American
senior citizen was scammed of all her lifes saving
(USD 250,000), she later committed suicide. The police
officers related that lottery scammers have established a
call centre in a residential housing complex. The call
centre has full-time employees whose responsibility it
is to obtain information, call prospective senior citizens
and sell the hoax.

Murder
Financial embezzlement
Victimization of people by criminal networks

However, there are some merits to arguments on

the effectiveness of anti-money laundering mechanisms
in Jamaica as for years the Ponzi schemes flourished
unabated (CaPRI, 2007).
Manual on scamming: Both Ms. Arrest and a senior
police officer concurred that there is a training manual
on How to be an effective Scammer. They noted that
the manual includes from:

How to speak enunciation

Techniques
Strategies, to
Customer relations

Lottery scamming is serious business they said

and the scammers treat it as such. The officers noted
that prospective scammers had to attend formal class
and there they will be taught from the manual. In
addition to the aforementioned issues, Ms. Arrest noted
that there are American seals (Federal) on letters to
seniors warning them of scamming and how they must
not be gullible to such hoax by Jamaicans. The
scammers go on to show how they trust no one else in
the letter. The letter informs the senior citizens of how
to send the money, who to call and sometimes a US
Federal cheque is forwarded with the money (USD
5,000).

Educational level: The lottery scamming operations

have become an informal industry in Jamaica that
employs highly qualified people. All the participants
interviewed for this study indicated that there are some
highly qualified scammers. A security manager for one
of the wired transferred agencies in the nation indicated
that the highly qualified scammers are the brains of the
operation, who are employed to mastermind new
ventures, approaches and ways of scamming people.
One scammer (Mr. Matthews) who was asked What
are some of the reasons for peoples involvement in the
lottery scamming business? remarked: Poverty was my
main reason for partaking, having a degree and no job,
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Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

for others lack of employment as well, to improve their
standard of living, unwillingness to be gainfully
employed (Personal communication of Mr. Matthew):
Matthews comment goes simply beyond:

For decades, poverty has been used to interpret and

explain the crime phenomenon, which was equally used
by Caribbean scholars (Levy, 1996; Harriott, 2004;
Sives, 2003; Inter-American Development Bank, 1998;
Headley, 1994; Harriott, 2003; Figueroa and Sives,
2003; Robotham, 2003; Tremblay, 1995). Using
aggregate data on selected macroeconomic variables
(including poverty) for Jamaica, Bourne refuted the
theorizing of violent crime and poverty (Bourne, 2011)
and March and Bourne (2011) established that there
was no statistical correlation between murder and
poverty. Equally, Bourne (2011), March and Bourne
(2011) and Bourne et al. (2012) empirical established
that the exchange rate is the most significant factor
accounting for change in violent crimes or singly
murders, which is supporting the economics of crimes
forwarded by Becker (1968) as well as Francis et al.
(2001). The general prescription of economics to
interpret crimes can be similarly applied to the lottery
scams. A qualitative study by Anderson (2011) revealed
that even police officers have become corrupt not
because of poverty but owing to the economics of
crime. Becker (1968) having established the correlation
between involvement in crimes and economics provides
a premise upon which lottery scams can be interpret.
Among the factors identified by Gary Becker were:

Greed
Love of crime to the economics of survivability
and social challenges in the general society

Clearly, the formal economy is able to engage the

skills, knowledge and competencies of highly trained
minds, which is resulting a shift of these skills to the
informal lottery sector. One of the security managers at
a wired transfer business in Jamaica commented that
the highly qualified scammers are currently shifting
from lottery scamming to other types of cyber crimes.
He contended that the new operation for lottery
scammers - the highly qualified ones - is to claim the
fortunes of people are elderly and decease before the
IRS gets a hold of the money.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION OF STUDY
The empirical evidence which supports the
economics of crime (Becker, 1968; Bourne et al., 2012;
Bourne, 2011) cannot be overly emphasized in security
or crime management. When Manunta (1998)
forwarded that socio-economic and political factors are
critical to security, it is absolutely supported by the
studies in Jamaica that have revealed the importance of
economics to changes in violent crimes or singly
murders (Bourne et al., 2012; March and Bourne, 2011;
Bourne, 2011). People are not drawn to crimes simply
because they are

o
o

Income other than from crime or employment

Wage for an hour spent in criminal activity. It can
be extrapolated from Beckers empirical theory
that

If the opportunity cost (alternative foregone) of the

involvement of crimes is lower than the cost of its
engagement people will opt to participate than abstain
in criminality. Clearly such a theory anchors

Innately wicked
Sinful
Corrupt
Under-socialized
Psychological different
Weakness in the laws
Marginalized

o
o
o
o

Why people provide information to the scammers

despite the probability of losing their jobs
Why there are scammers
Why some people forego employment in the
formal for the illegal sector
Why scammers terrorize community members,
employees and other scammers

o
It is more in keeping with the economics of
survivability, the economics of crimes and economics
of punishment (Becker, 1968; Bourne et al., 2012;
Bourne, 2011). Manunta (1998) aptly encapsulated the
crime and security matter that security is a function of
asset, protector, threat and specific situation. In
embedded in Manuntas perspective is the economics
labelled as assets and the issues that pull people into
criminality.

In this study, there is evident that workers (in the

hotels, wired transfer industry) have resigned to aid the
lottery scamming activities. The security manager at
one of wired transfer companies in Jamaica remarked
that cashier who is in support of the scamming can earn
up to Jamaican $ 200,000 monthly which massively
more than his/her pay from the company.
Using probability sampling of Jamaicans, Boxill
et al. (2007) found that females are less likely to be
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Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

involved in corrupt victimization and wealth is a factor
of corruption. This offers yet assistance to the
interpretation of economics and the lottery scamming,
the typology of people involved and importance of
economic deprivation to increased engagement in the
scheme. With the customer service representatives
(cashiers) being among those at the lower stratum of the
social class in Jamaica, money will be an inducement to
pull them into this illegal activity. When they weigh the
cost of punishment against the likely transformation in
lifestyle, pull overweighs the push factors. It is this
same reason which pulls police officers to the illegal
activity and away from the formal sector and runs the
risk of being imprisoned. On examining the
imprisonment history of those whom have been
convicted for involvement into the scheme, this would
be another justification why economics overshadow the
cost of punishment. The nature of the material
deprivation, social inequality and economic hardship is
among the stimulant for the lottery scamming in
Jamaica and merely increasing public security will not
effectively curtail or address this phenomenon as the
punishment does not deter likely entrants into the action
compared to the probability of wealth creation. A
scammer who pleaded guilty to 22 counts of fraud by
way of lottery scam in Montego Bay (St. James)
Resident Magistrate (RM) Courts was fined Jamaican
$1 million and given one year suspended sentence,
which will be used by other scammers as a benchmark
for their involvement as the cost of punishment is not
equivalent to the opportunity cost of suffering.
Of the 25 leading problems affecting Jamaicans,
the top twelve in descending order included crime and
violence; unemployment; education; corruption;
poverty; cost of living and inflation; road conditions;
health care; drugs and gangs; social values; bad
government and low wages (Powell et al., 2007). The
listing reveals the value placed on economic issues.
With the low wages and cost of living being factors
among the averaged Jamaican, with gross domestic
product being mostly relatively constant over the past 2
decades and an economic recession between 2007 and
2010, these provide invaluable insights into economics
playing a pivotal role in the determination of lottery
scams, other typologies of crimes and people risk
taking behaviour. It is fitting to inquiry How does the
general economy account for the rise of others crimes
including financial embezzlement and lottery scam?
Crimes that are centered on drug activities tend to
encourage other types of crimes. Drug trafficking
provides established channels and systems for moving
all types of illegal imports such as guns and the funds to
purchase them. Some Caribbean countries are
confronted by increasingly complicated crime problems

as there is now emergence of new crimes such as

extortion,
kidnapping,
computer-aided
crimes,
sophisticated white collar and corporate crimes
(Boxill et al., 2007).
Jamaica experienced doubled digit inflation,
financial meltdown, structural adjustment, the cost
associated with structural adjustment, mistrust, low
confidence in socio-political institutions, financial
reform and financial crises (PIOJ and STATIN, 19892010; Powell et al., 2007; Atkins, 2005; Kirkpatrick
and Tennant, 2002; Peart, 1995; Witter and Anderson,
1991). Following the aforementioned economic issues,
what emerged is examined below. According to
FINSAC (2003), the early 1990s was characterized as a
turbulent time for the Jamaican financial system. This
followed the banking crisis of the mid-1990s that saw
increased public debt, doubled digit inflation,
unemployment, poverty and widespread human
sufferings. The government in an effort to prevent
social unrest or stave off political collapse, sought to
enact new legislation in order to strengthen and
restructure the financial sector. Despite all the efforts of
the government, it seems that these could not stop the
inevitable, the numerous failed financial entities.
FINSAC (2003) further stated that whilst this problem
was not unique to the Jamaican economy, it resulted
from weak regulations in a financial system that needed
regulatory overhaul. Foreign entities that operated at the
time used the regulations and principles from their
domicile countries, which were not applicable to the
Jamaican economy but still used since there was no
specific Jamaican regulations and standards.
Consequently, urgent actions had to be taken in order to
resuscitate the sector and shield investors from
significant losses. To quickly combat the devastation
that was affecting the countrys financial sector, a new
government entity was formed, referred to as the
Financial Sector Adjustment Company Limited
(FINSAC).
There has been an upsurge of Alternative
Investment Schemes (AISs) in Jamaica since the late
1990s, on around the time of the banking and financial
sector crises. During the mid-1990s, Albania saw the
proliferation of AISs following the nations transition
into a liberalized economy. These types of schemes are
a fairly new phenomenon to the Jamaicans.
Traditionally, moreso poor Jamaicans used the partner
plan schemes and they are cognizant of the likely perils
as well as pitfalls (Reid and Wright, 2001). The AISs
were emerging from liberalization and financial crises.
People were drawn to this new phenomenon because of
the promise to pay unusually high rates of return on
investments. And the AISs were capitalizing on the
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socioeconomic crises facing families and the nation.
Peoples confidence in the banking sector was falling
and the AISs seemingly were providing an alternative
to the establishment.
By contrast, people who do not trust one another
will end up cooperating only under a system of formal
rules and regulations, which have to be negotiated,
agreed to, litigated and enforced, sometimes by
coercive means. This legal apparatus, serving as a
substitute for trust, entails what economists call
transactional costs. Widespread distrust in a society,
in other words, imposes a kind of tax on all forms of
economic activity, a tax that high-trust societies do not
have to pay (Fukuyama, 1995).
Thus, economic activity represents a crucial part of
social life and is knit together by a wide variety of
norms, rules, moral obligations and other habits that
together shape the society. As this book will show, one
of the most important lessons we can learn from an
examination of economic life is that a nations wellbeing, as well as its ability to compete, is conditioned
by a single, pervasive cultural characteristic: the level
of trust inherent in the society (Fukuyama, 1995). With
increasing inflation, public debt, banking crises and the
human sufferings associated with those matters, there is
undoubtedly no surprise that Jamaicans have a low
level of confidence in the private sector. The income
misdistribution that exists in Latin America and the
Caribbean (Theodore et al., 2001; Cortez, 2001; Mayer
et al., 2001), many people have come to resent the
system because they believed that it is in favour of a
few wealth people (Powell et al., 2007). In 2007, a
research found that 69 out of every 100 Jamaicans
indicated that the justice system favours the wealthy
and the same proportion reported that they country is
governed to benefit a few powerful people (Powell et
al., 2007). It should be expected that the level of
interpersonal trust and confidence in the system is that
low (14 and 12%, respectively). From Fukuyamas
theorizing, with trust being this low in Jamaica coupled
with a low degree of confidence in socio-political
institutions, the societal distrust is a justification for the
experimenting in alternative investment schemes.
The alternative investment schemes are not a part
of the established financial sector, which means that
these could be trust over the financial system. So when
Tennant (2010) used gullibility theory as the theoretical
framework for a study of people who invest in AISs in
Jamaica, this is clearly not the case. According to the
Oxford University Press (2004), gullible denotes
Easily persuaded to believe something; credulous. (p.
634). For years, Jamaicans have come to distrust the
system (including government, judiciary, civil, private
sector) and could be construed that they wanted

something different and new that was in keeping with

their general benefit. It appears that the saviour was
AISs who promised something different, better,
different from the establishment and offer them returns
that were never paid by the formal system. This then
offers some explanation for peoples willingness to
deposit monies into AISs (or try something different).
The context is such that gullibility will be simplistic a
phenomenon and far removed from the historical and
contemporary purview of the matter. Tennants
gullibility framework cannot be used to contextualize
Jamaicans demand and usage of AISs. The matter is
deeply embedded in distrust and low confidence in the
establishment. Like Francis Fukuyama said,
economic activity represents a crucial part of social
life and is knit together by a wide variety of norms,
rules, moral obligations and other habits that together
shape the society (Fukuyama, 1995), suggesting that
social cohesion is difficult in all aspect of life, including
economic transaction, without trust and people will
therefore resort to something different. A study by
Powell et al. (2007) found that 6 out of every 50
Jamaicans indicated that the present situation in
Jamaica was at least good and 16 out of every 50
Jamaicans stated that the countrys economic situation
will be at least a little better in 12 months time.
Clearly, the socioeconomic reality of many Jamaicans
was not good and people were seeking a better way out
of the present challenges. During the rise of AISs in
Jamaica, another source of economic survivability of
many people was drug operation, headed by Leebert
Ramcharan (Williams, 2004; Jamaica Gleaner, 2007).
The formal economy was unable to absorb the number
of unemployed people in Western Jamaica, especially
Montego Bay, Saint James, as economic vulnerable
significantly grew because of general deterioration in
the economy and Ramcharant filled this void which was
created and unsupplied by the formal system. Leebert
Ramcharans operation was able to provide an
economic base for many families. The formal system
had failed to adequately provide employment,
survivability, economic resources, opportunities,
choices and social advancement. Many Montegonians,
therefore, relied on the Ramcharant business dealing
and drug enterprise, which had included money
laundering. On the arrest and extradition of Ramcharan
in 2007 (Jamaica Gleaner, 2007), without any general
improvements in the formal economy, people sought
alternative means of economic survivability. The lottery
scam emerged from the ash of other crimes which was
the alternative operations that people sought, became
involved, mastered and utilize as a medium of
economic survivability. Using, Beckers theorizing as
well as that of Francis et al. (2001) it should be
44

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

expected that crimes would rise because there was an
economic downturn, within the context that economic
drives human activities of which crime is one. Without
being able to provide for their families through the
formal economy, crime (lottery scam) became that
inducement, an alternative means of economic option
and a pull factor into crimes because of the state of
personal economic. The scammers noted that the lottery
scam became a forced alternative as:
o
o

lottery scamming is a way devised by those on the

economic margins, who are unable to be observed by
the formal economy, to obtain economic resources.
This is no different from during the early nineteenth
century in Kingston when peasants, poor slaves and
those on the economic margins organized economic
activities outside of the formal economy in Western
Kingston, Jamaica, in order to survive (Simmonds,
2004). The activities ranged from legitimate to
illegitimate means. Jamaicans have a long history of
involvement in criminal activities as a result of
sidelining of the formal economy to adequate provide
economic opportunities. Among the opportunity costs
of economic downturn and marginalization are:

Their families had to be provided for in an

environment with little resources to mean needs
They were unemployed, lowly educated and who
would hire them at a wage which was competitive
that could meet daily expenses

o
o

The economic difficulty of many Jamaicans is

captured the a study by Powell, Bourne and Waller who
found that 6 out of every 50 Jamaicans indicated that
the present situation in Jamaica was at least good and
16 out of every 50 Jamaicans stated that the countrys
economic situation will be at least a little better in 12
months time. Clearly, the socioeconomic reality of
many Jamaicans was not good and people were seeking
a better way out of the present challenges. One
scammer asked Who was going to employ me at an
attractive salary, with company car, upkeep and other
allowances, when I have no formal education? He
continued, What am I to do as I have children, rent,
food expenses and a young child with a mother at home
and an elderly mother who is ill? Another scammer
opined that lottery scamming is my work, which
requires my all, high involvement, dedication and wits.
Hence, the effort and time spent to hound the craft. One
scammer argued that any employment comes with risk
and the lottery activity is no different from other
employment typology. The sentiments echoed by those
studied in the research can be expressed another way
found in Levys qualitative study. In Levys work, a
group of young participants argued that their
involvement into criminality is a last resort and while
they are cognizant of the risk, it is a matter of survival
and sufferings versus starvation and continued socioeconomic and political marginalization. Therefore,
peoples involvement into criminal activity is
undoubtedly matter of economics, which goes beyond
poverty as was found in research using secondary data
by (Bourne, 2011). The economic reality is a pull factor
for engagement into criminal activities and thus
Jamaicans involvement into lottery scamming is in
context of the broader economic of crime identified by
Becker (1968) and Francis et al. (2001).
Lottery scamming is, therefore, a shifting of the
typology of crime and in essence nothing new. Simply,

Rise in economic crimes

Other typologies of crime

In the current work, lottery scammers were

engaged in murder, drugs and gun activities. Not only
boys, but girls, too-witness the drug mules are subject
to the pressures to escape from poverty by whatever
route is possible. The absence of material goods in the
ghetto (compared to the elite areas of uptown Kingston)
helps to explain the get-rich-quick mentality of so many
of the gunmen and the appeal that drug crime has for
some young men and women (Clarke, 2006).
The essence of Clarkes proposition can be applied
to lottery scamming as people can escape from more
than poverty to include socio-economic marginalization
and political exclusivity. Again, poverty denotes
deprivation of material resources, inadequacies to
access some goods and services, lower nutritional
intakes, lower capabilities and education, high
unemployment, unhealthy diet and lower health status
(World Bank, 2006; WHO, 2005; Younger, 2002; Sen,
1979) and lottery scamming provides:

Respect
Economic independence
Escape from financial difficulties
Socio-political power
Alleviation from hunger as well as food insecurity

According to the US Department of State, Food

security and alleviating hunger hinge, among other
things, on defining property rights for small-scale
farmers, on technology and on providing social safety
nets to the most vulnerable groups, says U.S. Secretary
of Agriculture Ann Veneman. Cato Institute economist
Ian Vsquez also highlights the property rights issue, as
well as the correlation of economic freedom with
poverty reduction (US Department of State, 2002).
From the perspective of the US Department of State,
45

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

poverty alleviation will only be accomplished by
addressing not only food security but on economic
freedom. Such a state in the social setting of the poor
must come from access to quality and higher education.
Poverty reduction, therefore, does not rest with the
provision of food to the poor or to poor countries, as
this will not go to destroy the economic livelihood of
farmers and other institutions within the recipient
country. The issue can only be address from a
multidimensional approach which includes the
provision and access of education to all individuals
within the country. By providing access to quality
education, the poor is given an opportunity to gain
financial independence. This seemingly simplistic
approach holds the key to financial freedom, hunger
eradication, opportunities, plethora of choices and
social harmony. Another aspect that is hidden in the
food insecurity is the nutritional deficiencies and the
direct association between poverty and illness,
unemployment and crime, unemployment and poverty
and unemployment and illness. Levys findings aptly
provides a justification why lottery scammers and other
Jamaicans become involved into criminal activities and
why some people are pulled in such illegitimate actions,
especially those on the economic margins, vulnerable
and socio-political isolated by the formal economy. He
wrote in the concluding comments that: This isolation
has largely been built on the transfer between the wider
society and the urban ghetto of mainly two resources
drugs and guns. Area stigma has denied the ghetto
people the very thing on which human well being and
human relationships most depend, namely steady and
worthwhile employment. It has denied them the basic
amenities on which community self-respect and morale
hinge, namely sewage disposal, decent housing and a
means of communication (Levy, 1996). The expression
of all those who participated in this study has provided
empirical evidence that economic deprivation, sociopolitical exclusion and economic vulnerability are full
factors for involvement into criminal activities. It
follows that when peoples economic survivability is
closed, reduced and/or threatened, they will seek an
alternative medium. Lottery scamming should not be
interpreted as a moral dilemma, moral decay or
departure from civility; it is an indicator of the
economic consequences of:
o
o
o

o
o

CONCLUSION
For over a decade, the lottery scam has been
allowed to flourish in Jamaica without the intervention
of the state, particularly public security management
and involvement (Jamaican Police Force). Prior to the
intervention of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF,
Year) and by extension outside agencies, there was a
private fragmented approach to security management as
it relates to lottery scamming. During this time, the
lottery scammers have developed their operations,
mastered the art and process, engaged into other illegal
activities and terrorized many communities. Despite the
reduction in the numbers of violent crimes in Jamaica
over the past ten years, lottery scams have grown,
defrauded more people, contributed to the rise in
murders, corrupted more Jamaicans and destroyed more
family lives. The volume of monies held by lottery
scammers is making it increasingly difficult for local
law enforcement officers to solve crimes in many
communities as scammers are able to use money power
to:

Intimidate
Persuade
Influence
Change thinking
Revert the course of justice

The rise in crimes, particularly murders in Western

Jamaica, is as a direct result of the lottery scam, it
solution cannot be solved by simply:
o
o
o
o

Increasing the police presence in the geo-political

zones
Requesting community members to supply
information to local police
Arresting all the masterminds of the operations
Targeting lottery scam and related crimes

Lottery scamming is a direct result of the general

deterioration of the Jamaican economy, difficulty in
survivability, inability of the formal economy to
effectively absorb people, the formal economy being
able to allow families to adequately provide for
themselves and general deterioration in the social
conditions of urban inner-city communities. According
to Harriott (2004), The communities of the
marginalized urban inner-city poor are mostly affected
by this murderous violence, suggesting that further
deterioration in the general economy any nation without
a corresponding social safety network that can
adequately maintain human survivability, decency and
belief in the formal structure, lottery scam among other

A poorly managed economy

Socio-political isolation of particular groups within
the society
The unequal distribution of resources as well as
socio-economic and political exclusion which
accounts for inequity
Economic frustrations
Hopelessness
46

Asian J. Bus. Manage., 5(1): 19-51, 2013

Are you aware of a scanner being caught? How did you get this
knowledge?
Question 7
How many scammers have been arrested in the past year?
Question 8
How were the scammers caught?
Question 9
Where were they operating from?
Question 10
Who are some of the players in the lottery scamming activities?
Question 11
Are the lottery scammers involved in other criminal activity? How are
you aware of this fact?
Question 12
Is lottery scamming widespread in Jamaica? Are there outside players
involved? Why?
Question 13
Have you ever had dialogue with a scammer to understanding the pull
factors? And what are some of the reasons for their involvement?
Question 14
How can lottery scamming be effectively addressed in Jamaica?

violent crimes will rise. The lottery scam and its

relationship with increased murder is again another
subset of the general worsening in the state of the
Jamaican economy (Bourne, 2011; March and Bourne,
2011) and why this illegal activity continues to pull
people to such actions.
Appendix A: Semi-structure interview items
Lottery scammers and other players in the activity
Lottery scamming inquiry: Jamaica Observer (2012) and Bourne et
al. (2012)
Question 1
How were you made aware of the lottery scamming?
Question 2
How does it operate and managed?
Question 3
How were you introduced into lottery scamming?
Question 4
On average, how much money do scammers receive monthly?
Question 5
What are some of the reasons for your involvement in the lottery
scamming?
Question 6
What are some of the privileges in lottery scamming?
Question 7
Are you aware that this is an illegal activity? Have you ever being
caught? Why? How do you manage the possibility of being?
Question 8
Who are some of the players?
Question 9
How do you spend the money from lottery scamming?
Question 10
After the initial start you process of scamming, have are involved in
any other criminal activity (including murder, money laundering,
rape, others?
Question 11
Is lottery scamming widespread in Jamaica? Are there outside players
involved? Why?
Question 12
What are some of the pull factors into lottery scamming?
Question 13
How can lottery scamming be effectively addressed in Jamaica?
Question 14
How can lottery scamming be effectively addressed in Jamaica,
particular here?
Question 15
What is your highest level of education?

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